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☆ This little-known digital infrastructure stock can surge more than 25%, Deutsche Bank says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

There's a big buying opportunity in DigitalBridge , an under-the-radar digital infrastructure company, according to Deutsche Bank. Analyst Matthew Niknam initiated the stock with a buy rating and a price target of $18 per share, implying upside of 26.3% from Tuesday's close. Niknam said the company's high-growth model and sector resilience make it a promising buy even ahead of a potential economic downturn. "DigitalBridge's high-growth, and increasingly asset-light business model represent a unique approach to investing in digital infrastructure," the analyst wrote in a Tuesday note. "Additionally, given the transition from a legacy REIT structure towards more of an alternative asset manager, the shares have lacked a true "home", likely explaining the discount vs. its more seasoned (and larger) alternative asset manager peers."

☆ Transportation company Via valued at $3.5 billion after latest fund-raise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Via is valued at $3.5 billion, the transportation company said on Monday, after it raised fresh capital in a funding round led by 83North. Via develops public mobility systems by building a network of buses, shuttles, wheelchair-accessible vehicles and autonomous and electric vehicles in over 35 countries. It plans to use the capital to expand its products, improve its end-to-end digital infrastructure for public mobility and expand into new markets and verticals. Via had confidentially filed for an U.S. initial public offering in December 2021, a month after it raised $130 million and bagged a valuation of $3.3 billion. Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra ELuri and Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Hackers who breached ION say ransom paid; company declines comment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Raphael Satter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The hackers who claimed responsibility for the disruptive breach at financial data firm ION say a ransom has been paid, although they declined to say how much it was or offer any evidence that the money had been handed over. Britain's National Cyber Security Agency (NCSC), part of Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping intelligence agency, told Reuters it had no comment. ABN told clients on Wednesday that due to "technical disruption" from ION, some applications were unavailable and were expected to remain so for a "number of days." ION was removed from Lockbit's extortion website, where victim companies are named and shamed in a bid to force a payout. As of late Friday, Lockbit's extortion website alone counted 54 victims who were being shaken down, including a television station in California, a school in Brooklyn and a city in Michigan.

☆ Yellen to meet with donors, private sector on South Africa's energy transition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attends media briefing ahead of bilateral talks with South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana (not pictured), at the treasury offices in Pretoria, South Africa, January 26, 2023. The United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union backed South Africa's "Just Energy Transition Partnership," or JETP, in late 2021 with a combined $8.5 billion, but the total cost could be ten times that high. "The United States' commitment to the energy transition being 'just' is firm. That is why President Biden made an additional commitment to President Ramaphosa of $45 million in grant funding to support South Africa’s efforts," Yellen said. But President Cyril Ramaphosa's plan to transition South Africa away from coal and towards renewable energy has divided the governing African National Congress (ANC).

☆ India is a true bright spot in the midst of a global downturn, top execs and policymakers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

But India does shine out among the world's biggest economies, with Europe hovering on the brink of potential recession and U.S. growth slowing. "It's for the whole digital India, and creating a digital society in India," Ekholm told CNBC. watch nowIndia, he continued, "will very shortly have the best digital infrastructure outside of China," driven by telecoms juggernauts Bharti Airtel and Jio, he added. Strong tailwinds"We are very optimistic and very positive on India," the chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, Rajesh Gopinathan, told CNBC. As Anish Shah, chief executive of Mahindra Group, told CNBC: "India will get impacted.

☆ Yellen says South Africa needs action to maintain energy transition momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attends media briefing ahead of bilateral talks with South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana (not pictured), at the treasury offices in Pretoria, South Africa, January 26, 2023. REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoJOHANNESBURG, Jan 27 (Reuters) - South Africa needs concrete action soon if it is to maintain momentum on an energy transition program backed by the United States and other countries, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday after visiting the coal mining region of Mpumalanga. She expressed hope that Washington's focus on a just energy transition would underpin donor interest in backing the nearly $100 billion project aimed at supporting South Africa's gradual phasing out of fossil fuels. The United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union have backed South Africa's "Just Energy Transition Partnership" with a combined $8.5 billion, which Yellen called a "substantial down payment" designed to mobilise additional money. "An energy transition that is not just will simply not work.

☆ How to find a job in the one tech market that is not seeing layoffs: Cybersecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kaitlin Balasaygun | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn | Istock | Getty ImagesStrong demand for cybersecurity workers is continuing even as big technology companies lay off thousands of employees. But with a supply-demand ratio currently at 68 workers per 100 job openings, the nearly 530,000 more cybersecurity workers need in the U.S. went up year over year. The total number of employed cybersecurity workers was estimated at 1.1 million, steady year over year. Lightcast says that public sector job demand trend isn't a one-year phenomenon, growing by 58% over the past three years in all. Related to that, the Washington, D.C. metro area accounted for 19% of all public sector domestic cybersecurity job listings.

☆ Meta, Twitter, Microsoft and others urge Supreme Court not to allow lawsuits against tech algorithms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The diverse group weighing in at the Court ranged from major tech companies such as Meta, Twitter and Microsoft to some of Big Tech’s most vocal critics, including Yelp and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Section 230 has been used to shield all websites, not just social media platforms, from lawsuits over third-party content. “If Yelp could not analyze and recommend reviews without facing liability, those costs of submitting fraudulent reviews would disappear,” Yelp wrote. “The feed uses algorithms to recommend software to users based on projects they have worked on or showed interest in previously,” Microsoft wrote. “Without a liability shield for recommendations, platforms will remove large categories of third-party content, remove all third-party content, or abandon their efforts to make the vast amount of user content on their platforms accessible.

☆ Investors piled a record $12.6 billion into wellness apps during the pandemic. Now they're starting to bet on startups tackling mental illnesses.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The COVID-19 pandemic created a wellness boom across Europe, with mindfulness apps growing rapidly. VCs pumped a record $771 million into European startups tackling mental illnesses in 2021, per Dealroom. But psychologists have been clear that they are not substitutes for clinically-approved treatments for mental health conditions. Now, there is a new wave of startups looking to move beyond wellness and tackle mental illnesses. "The scale of the problem of mental illnesses became evident after COVID-19," Joseph Zipfel, chief investment officer at SFC, told Insider.

☆ 2023 looks good for the market — especially for one 'extremely attractive' asset class: Fund manager
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The S & P 500 is currently at around 3,839. Based on the current yield of 3.75%, the S & P 500 is "fairly valued" at 3,800 — implying no upside. 'Conviction themes' in 2023 Hatfield highlighted the "conviction investment themes" he expects to be very attractive in 2023. One asset class he highlighted was preferred stocks, which have the characteristics of both stocks and bonds . "We believe that preferred stocks are extremely attractive now as most are trading at more than a 20% discount to par.

☆ How Saudi Arabia's crown prince snubbed Biden repeatedly to forge ties with authoritarian China and Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In 2022, Saudi Arabia sought closer ties with Russia and China. Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend the G20 Leaders' Summit in Buenos Aires, on November 30, 2018. Analysts say that US criticism of Saudi Arabia's human-rights record and its suppression of domestic dissent infuriate Riyadh. Crown Prince Mohammed has more affinity with the ideology of fellow strongmen Xi or Putin than with the US, said Alterman. "Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia all believe in the model of 'authoritarian stability'.

☆ UK's Sunak to attend Baltic summit, meet UK troops in Estonia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 19 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet his Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts at the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit in the Latvian capital Riga on Monday, before heading to Estonia to meet British and NATO troops, the government said. The JEF, a British-led group of Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, will be addressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. At the summit, Sunak will call on leaders to sustain or increase lethal aid, economic resilience and political backing to Ukraine in its resistance against Russia's invasion, according to a British government statement. After the JEF summit, Sunak is expected to meet Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, before heading to Estonia to meet UK and NATO troops serving on the military alliance's eastern flank on the Russian border. Sunak will sign a technology partnership agreement with the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, to bolster technology ties and support new digital infrastructure, the statement said.

☆ Recovery in Asia M&A, stuck at 8-year-lows, rests on macro conditions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Kane Wu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Deals are set to revive slowly as companies and funds watch out for easier macroeconomic conditions, they said. "This will provide a more stable backdrop for the return of a more robust M&A market," said Maliah. Deals in private equity, a major M&A driver, amounted to $139 billion as of Dec. 15, down 52% on all of 2021. "Banks' ability to write big-size checks is still much challenged," said Samson Lo, UBS's co-head of Asia-Pacific M&A. An improvement in Asian equity capital market volumes from three-year lows will also help M&A deals, dealmakers said.

☆ India may be set to become third largest economy by 2030, overtaking Japan and Germany
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Beautiful and colorful aerial view of Mumbai skyline during twilight seen from Currey Road, on February 16, 2022 in Mumbai, India. India is set to overtake Japan and Germany to become the world's third-largest economy, according to S&P Global and Morgan Stanley. "These drivers will make [India] the world's third-largest economy and stock market before the end of the decade." India posted a year-on-year growth of 6.3% for the July to September quarter, fractionally higher than a Reuters poll forecast of 6.2%. The country posted a record 20.1% year-on-year growth in the three months to June 2021, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ How fuel cells could power the transition to a greener digital infrastructure industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Vertiv With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The data center industry is booming and eager for land, which can push up property prices in residential areas. The partnership aims to develop a proof-of-concept for how low-carbon fuel cells can provide green power for data centers. Fuel cells are recognized as a cleaner and quieter power solution that can reduce the strain on urban power grids. Fuel cells can help reduce the data center industry's reliance on natural gas and diesel-powered generators, he added. In the webinar, Summers emphasized how important it is that any solution for low-carbon fuel cells turns into an "open standard."

☆ Partners Group buys data center platform EdgeCore Digital with $1.2 bln investment
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 11 (Reuters) - Swiss private investment company Partners Group Holding AG (PGHN.S) is investing up to $1.2 billion in U.S. data center operator EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, the private equity firm told Reuters. Partners Group will use the fund to acquire a majority stake in EdgeCore and help it build out new data center sites across the United States, the latest of Partners' investment in data center assets. Some of the themes include cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, 5G and mobile," said Ed Diffendal, managing director at Partners Group. In 2021, Partners Group made four digital infrastructure investments, including acquiring atNorth, the largest data center operator in Iceland. Founded in 1996, Partners Group manages $119 billion across private equity, real estate, infrastructure, credit and secondaries globally.

☆ Palantir stock falls after slight earnings miss
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of Palantir fell more than 10% Monday after the company released third-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates for earnings but beat on revenue. Here's how the company did:EPS: $0.01, adjusted, vs. $0.02 expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. $0.01, adjusted, vs. $0.02 expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue: $478 million vs. $470 million expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. In a letter to shareholders, Palantir CEO Alex Karp said the company is in the "early stages of a significant transformation."

☆ Climate change is the biggest issue facing our planet. A public-private partnership is helping address it with zero-carbon tech.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Vertiv With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

So, how can data centers provide more computing power while reducing their carbon footprint? "The RISE partnership will help us see the bigger picture of sustainability," he said. "We are creating greenhouses and vertical farming to reuse the heat and analyzing the data from medium-sized data centers." Other areas for improvement in data centers' environmental performance include making hardware and software more energy efficient, said Tor. Vertiv and RISE are also members of the E2P2 Tech Consortium, leading low-carbon fuel cell development to power data centers.

☆ Microsoft extends free tech support for Ukraine through 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Thursday it would extend technology support for Ukraine free of charge through 2023, as Russia's invasion of the country drags on. Microsoft said it would provide additional technology aid of nearly $100 million, bringing its total support for Ukraine to more than $400 million since the crisis started in February. The company's support "will ensure that government agencies, critical infrastructure and other sectors in Ukraine can continue to run their digital infrastructure and serve citizens through the Microsoft Cloud," Microsoft Corp President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post. read moreA number of companies across Europe and North America have mobilized in offering aid to Ukrainian authorities and people. read moreRussian forces swept into Ukraine in February in what Moscow calls a "special military operation" to eliminate dangerous nationalists and protect Russian-speakers.

☆ Ukraine war, geopolitics fuelling cybersecurity attacks -EU agency
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Geopolitics such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to more damaging and widespread cybersecurity attacks in the year to July, EU cybersecurity agency ENISA said in its annual report on Thursday. The agency said geopolitical situations - in particular the Russian invasion of Ukraine - were game-changers during the period under review. "Today's global context is inevitably driving major changes in the cybersecurity threat landscape. The new paradigm is shaped by the growing range of threat actors," ENISA Executive Director Juhan Lepassaar said in a statement. About 24% of cybersecurity attacks targeted public administration and governments while 13% targeted digital services providers, the report said.

☆ Activist Starboard takes a stake in Vertiv, and an opportunity to boost margins is in sight
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Activist Commentary: Starboard is a very successful activist investor and has extensive experience helping companies focus on operational efficiency and margin improvement. Starboard sees Vertiv as a great business in a solid industry with secular tailwinds – more data is being generated every day requiring more data centers. After going public, Vertiv delivered solid results, which allowed management to continue to focus on revenue growth, rather than operating margins. This is a typical situation for Starboard: a private company CEO running a public company like a private company leading to underperforming operating margins. Both Starboard and Vertiv seem to be on the same page.

☆ How critical infrastructure providers can align with customer efficiency goals through better product design
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Vertiv With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In the data center world, there are already 2.9 gigawatts of new data center capacity currently under construction. To slow the environmental effects of this growth, critical infrastructure providers are working with greater urgency to develop high-performing products and solutions that use less water and more renewable energy. While our industry has made significant strides in recent years to improve the energy efficiency of data centers, the work is far from over. Better product design for more purpose-driven resultsTo address the challenge of enabling data center growth with less energy consumption, Vertiv has worked to improve its internal operations to deliver solutions that help contribute to customer goals in these areas. The path toward a more efficient data center will require much more than customer-manufacturer interactions.

☆ More Chipotle customers are ordering in-store, while the chain keeps investing in digital and drive-thru
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Mary Meisenzahl | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Chipotle saw a huge bump in in-store sales as digital sales dropped slightly. In-store sales were up 22% in the third quarter of 2022 over the same period in the previous year, while digital sales were down 6% to make up 37% of all sales. Despite tides turning a bit toward more in-store orders, Chipotle is still investing in digital infrastructure. Chipotle has been especially optimistic about digital sales through its so-called Chipotlane drive-thrus, of which there are now more than 300. After two years as a digital promotion, the Halloween Boorito promotion is returning to stores this year.

Companies BlackRock Inc FollowOct 25 (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) has raised $4.5 billion out of an overall $7.5 billion-target for a new fund to invest in infrastructure assets aimed at climate-focused projects, the world's largest asset manager said on Tuesday. BlackRock, which manages around $8 trillion in assets, said public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and family offices had invested in the new fund, which will be called Global Infrastructure Fund IV. The asset manager said the new fund will invest in five sectors –– energy, low carbon power, transport and logistics, regulated utilities, and digital infrastructure –– to capitalize on the growing trend towards decarbonization and digitalization. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterIts previous infrastructure fund raised $5.1 billion in 2020. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Ann Maria shibu and Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Op-ed: Investing isn't a game. Take risks and make wild predictions in fantasy football, not with your money
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Dave Butler | Co-Ceo At Dimensional Fund Advisors | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Kikoncos | Getty ImagesIt's Sunday morning, and my kids are checking player reports to evaluate their fantasy football lineups. In many ways, the highs and lows of fantasy football remind me of how many people approach investing. But with your investment portfolio, the fantasy can only go so far and the stakes can be much higher. This may be a good time to think about the difference between speculating and long-term investing — and recognize that your investment decisions have real and lasting consequences. Your investment decisions should be based on a time horizon that matches your goals.

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