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☆ Arista Networks forecasts upbeat revenue as AI hype boosts cloud gear demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 31 (Reuters) - Arista Networks (ANET.N) forecast quarterly revenue above estimates after delivering better-than-expected results on Monday, supported by higher demand for its cloud networking gear following a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The third-quarter forecast underscores robust demand from customers including Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Meta Platforms (META.O) as they snap up Arista's latest 7800 series of switches designed to support AI workloads. Both Microsoft and Meta said last week they would continue investing in data center infrastructure, including networking equipment, to support functionality centered on AI. Arista sees third-quarter revenue in the range $1.45 billion to $1.5 billion, higher than analysts' estimate of $1.39 billion, according to Refinitiv data. In the second quarter ended June 30, its revenue rose 39% to $1.46 billion, beating expectations of $1.38 billion.

Persons: Meta, Akshita Toshniwal, Yuvraj Malik, Devika Organizations: Arista Networks, Microsoft, Arista, Thomson Locations: Santa Clara , California, Bengaluru

Companies Live Nation Entertainment Inc FollowJuly 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice could file an antitrust lawsuit against concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment (LYV.N) and its unit Ticketmaster by the end of the year, Politico reported on Friday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. Shares of Live Nation dropped 5% in extended trading on Friday. The potential lawsuit could claim that the entertainment giant is abusing its power over the live music industry, Politico reported, adding that the timing of the case was not firm and the DOJ could decide to drop it. Live Nation and the DOJ did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Taylor Swift's, Urvi Dugar, Yuvraj Malik, Devika Organizations: U.S . Department of Justice, Entertainment, Ticketmaster, Politico, DOJ, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Musk says X monthly users reach 'new high'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 28 (Reuters) - Elon Musk said on Friday monthly users of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, reached a "new high" and shared a graph that showed the latest count as over 540 million. loadingTwitter had 229 million monthly active users in May 2022, according to a statement made before the buyout. Under Musk, X has gone through a series of product changes and staff cuts as the company tries to boost revenue. X's cash flow remains negative because of a nearly 50% drop in advertising revenue and a heavy debt load, Musk said earlier this month, falling short of his expectation in March that the social media platform could reach cash flow positive by June. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; `Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Yuvraj Malik, Sandra Maler Organizations: Twitter, Meta, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Roku beats quarterly revenue estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

July 27 (Reuters) - Streaming firm Roku (ROKU.O) on Thursday beat second-quarter revenue estimates on the back of higher ad sales. Net revenue grew 11% to $847.2 million, beating estimates of $774.5 million, according to Refinitiv data. Shares of the company gained over 10% in after-market trading. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yuvraj Malik Organizations: Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

July 26 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) forecast third-quarter revenue above market expectations on Wednesday, sending shares up on the suggestion that it anticipated higher ad spending as a result of an improving macroeconomic environment. The company expects July-September revenue in the range of $32 billion to $34.5 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $31.30 billion, according to Refinitiv data. Meta also beat second-quarter revenue estimates. Revenue grew 11% to $32 billion in the quarter ended June, compared to analysts' average estimate of $31.12 billion. Reporting by Katie Paul in New York and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Katie Paul, Yuvraj Malik, Arun Koyyur, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Meta, Revenue, Thomson Locations: New York, Bengaluru

July 25 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence is expected to pay off big for tech giants including Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) someday. Microsoft is bearing AI costs in two ways, analysts said: to power its own products such as its forthcoming $30-a-month Copilot AI assistant, and to serve companies wanting to use its Azure cloud computing services to create AI products. "They're buying a bunch of H100s," said Ben Bajarin, chief executive and principal analyst of Creative Strategies, referring to Nvidia's flagship chips for AI. Microsoft may be "aggressively buying Nvidia chips, given Microsoft does not have its own silicon as an alternative," said Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell. "The message on inflection point was the same," from Microsoft and Google, said Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, "but the difference was Microsoft investors wanted to see more."

Persons: Ben Bajarin, Ruth Porat, Scott Kessler, James Cordwell, Porat, Gene Munster, Stephen Nellis, Akash Sriram, Anna Tong, Max Cherney, Yuvraj Malik, Greg Bensinger, Sayantani Ghosh, Richard Chang Organizations: Microsoft, Nvidia Corp, Creative, Google, Deepwater Asset Management, Thomson Locations: Atlantic, San Francisco, Bengaluru, New York

☆ Teradyne beats results estimates as AI boom supports chip demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 26 (Reuters) - Chip-testing machines maker Teradyne (TER.O) on Wednesday surpassed estimates for sales and profit in the second quarter, helped by growing demand for semiconductors that power artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Higher shipments in Teradyne's core semiconductor-test segment more than offset weaker robotics demand, said Teradyne CEO Greg Smith. For the current quarter, strong demand is seen from data center and automotive end-markets while order rates in robotics may decline, the company said. The boom in demand for AI capabilities have benefited companies in the chip supply chain, softening the impact from a post-pandemic downturn in sales of personal computers and smartphones. The company earned 79 cents per share on an adjusted basis, higher than estimates of 66 cents.

Persons: Greg Smith, Zaheer Kachwala, Yuvraj Malik, Devika Organizations: chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Qualcomm, Samsung, Revenue, Thomson Locations: bengaluru

Microsoft is weaving AI into its own products, such as the $30-a-month "Copilot" assistant for its Microsoft 365 service that can summarize a day's worth of emails into a quick update. Microsoft's results show heavy spending on AI services ahead of commensurate revenue growth. For the segment that includes Azure, Microsoft forecast a first-quarter revenue range with a midpoint of $23.45 billion. Microsoft's forecast for its Windows segment had a midpoint of $12.7 billion, below analysts' estimate of $13.14 billion. Microsoft has started integrating AI functionality across its products such as Azure, Microsoft 365, GitHub and several developer tools.

Persons: Amy Hood, Hood, Satya Nadella, Yuvraj Malik, Devika Syamnath, Richard Chang Organizations: Microsoft, Wall, Nvidia Corp, Revenue, Alpha, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Microsoft beats quarterly estimates as AI boosts cloud business
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Tuesday surpassed Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit as its cloud business benefited from product upgrades featuring new artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Revenue rose to $56.2 billion in the quarter ended June, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of $55.5 billion, according to Refinitiv. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud unit, which houses the Azure cloud computing platform, grew revenue to $24 billion, compared with expectations of $23.8 billion. It is also aiming to sell cloud computing services that other firms will use to build AI services. The Microsoft segment containing the LinkedIn social network and its Office productivity software grew to $18.3 billion, compared with analysts' consensus estimate of $18.1 billion according to Refinitiv data.

Persons: Yuvraj Malik, Devika Organizations: Microsoft, Alpha, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ F5 results beat estimates as client spending on cloud applications rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 24 (Reuters) - F5 (FFIV.O) beat third-quarter revenue and profit estimates on Monday, benefiting from higher customer spending on its cloud-related technology, sending its shares up nearly 9% after the bell. After a cut back in expenses related to software and hardware for several quarters, analysts say companies are now slowly increasing their spending in certain areas. F5's revenue and profit forecasts for the fourth quarter were largely in line with estimates. It expects revenue in the range $690 million to $710 million. Per share earnings are seen in the range $3.15 to $3.27, compared to the estimate of $3.22.

Persons: François, Donou, Refinitiv, Zaheer Kachwala, Yuvraj Malik, Pooja Desai Organizations: Thomson

Both Amazon and Alphabet will likely report their lowest-ever growth for the cloud computing business at 9.8% and 24.4%, respectively, according to analysts polled by Refinitiv. Meanwhile Microsoft Intelligent Cloud, home to Azure, is expected to grow at 13.7%, the slowest rate since 2017. The digital ad market recovery will also aid Alphabet, whose Google Search has so far avoided any meaningful market share loss to Microsoft's AI-powered Bing. Alphabet is expected to report 4.5% revenue growth in the April-June period, its best in three quarters. Microsoft and Alphabet will report quarterly results on July 25, Meta on July 26 and Amazon on Aug. 3.

Persons: Lucy Nicholson, Kingsley Crane, Rishi Jaluria, Jaluria, Bernstein, Yuvraj Malik, Aditya Soni, Shounak Dasgupta Organizations: Los Angeles , California U.S, REUTERS, Microsoft, Google, Refinitiv, RBC Capital, Facebook, Meta, BofA Global Research, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, Bengaluru

☆ Spotify plans to raise premium plan price in US - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

July 21 (Reuters) - Music-streaming service Spotify (SPOT.N) plans to raise the price of its ad-free premium monthly plan by $1 in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yuvraj Malik, Vinay Dwivedi Organizations: Spotify, Wall Street, Thomson Locations: United States, Bengaluru

LOS ANGELES, July 19 (Reuters) - Streaming video pioneer Netflix (NFLX.O) disappointed Wall Street on Wednesday with second-quarter revenue that fell short of analyst estimates, sending shares tumbling nearly 9% in after-hours trading. Netflix has been looking for new ways to make money as streaming competition intensifies and it nears market saturation in the United States. Its nearly 6 million subscriber additions outpaced the 1.9 million that Wall Street expected. Quarterly revenue climbed 2.7% from a year earlier to $8.2 billion, shy of analyst forecasts of $8.3 billion. Netflix said its advertising tier remained a small part of its membership base and that current ad revenue is not material.

Persons: we’ve, Craig Huber, Huber, We've, Spencer Neumann, Jeffrey Wlodarczak, Ted Sarandos, Sarandos, Lisa Richwine, Dawn Chmielewski, Yuvraj Malik, Deepa Babington, Chris Reese Organizations: Netflix, Refinitiv, Huber Research Partners, Research, Thomson Locations: ANGELES, United States, Los Angeles, Bengaluru

☆ Apple tests generative AI tools to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 19 (Reuters) - Apple (AAPL.O) is working on artificial intelligence (AI) offerings similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, sending its shares up as much as 2% to a record high. Apple has, however, subtly pushed advanced AI in some of its products such as Apple Photos, on device texting, and the recently launched mixed-reality headset Vision Pro. Apple's core AI product, voice assistant Siri, has also stagnated over the years. The Bloomberg report said several teams are involved in the latest AI effort, which is led by John Giannandrea, the company's head of machine learning and AI, and Craig Federighi, Apple's top software engineering executive. Employees say the tool essentially replicates Bard, ChatGPT and Bing AI, and works as a web application.

Persons: Google's Bard, Apple, Siri, John Giannandrea, Craig Federighi, ChatGPT, Bing, Yuvraj Malik, Devika Organizations: Bloomberg, Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, Employees, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Activision, Microsoft extend deal deadline to secure UK approval
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 19 (Reuters) - Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Wednesday extended the deadline for the close of their $69 billion deal by three months to Oct. 18 as the American companies work to secure UK approval for the biggest gaming deal in history. The extension will "provide ample time to work through the final regulatory issues," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a tweet. Strength in those titles helped Activision beat market estimates for second-quarter net bookings and adjusted profit in the second quarter, it announced on Wednesday. The deadline extension came after the companies had to contend with varying concerns from regulators in the UK and the United States. Microsoft responded to these concerns by offering 10-year licensing deals to rivals after the deal closes.

Persons: Brad Smith, Bobby Kotick, Chavi Mehta, Yuvraj Malik, Devika Organizations: Activision, Microsoft, Reuters, HK, Sony, Diablo, FTC, Nintendo, PlayStation, CMA, Sony Group, Xbox, Thomson Locations: United States, Bengaluru

☆ Salesforce hires activist lawyer from Wachtell, Lipton as legal chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 17 (Reuters) - Salesforce (CRM.N) appointed Wachtell, Lipton's Sabastian Niles as its chief legal officer on Monday, months after the leading activist lawyer helped defend the business software provider against several hedge funds that had called for changes at the company. "I'm thrilled to welcome Sabastian to Salesforce as part of our world-class management team," CEO Marc Benioff said. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is a major law firm sought out by corporate America to handle merger deals as well as activist investment firms' push for changes. Niles spent nearly 17 years at the law firm, where he began his career as a summer associate after earning his law degree from Harvard, rising to become a partner. Niles was part of the team at Wachtell when it advised Salesforce after Starboard Value, ValueAct and Elliott Investment Management pressured it for making key changes earlier this year.

Persons: Wachtell, Lipton's Sabastian Niles, I'm, Marc Benioff, Lipton, Katz, Niles, Bill Ackman's, Jeffrey Ubben, Mason Morfit's, Salesforce, Svea Herbst, Bayliss, Yuvraj Malik, Vinay Dwivedi Organizations: Rosen, Harvard, Bill Ackman's Pershing, Capital Management, Elliott Investment Management, Svea, Thomson Locations: Salesforce, America, Wachtell, New York, Bengaluru

☆ Fox names Vimeo's Anjali Sud as Tubi streaming service CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 17 (Reuters) - Fox Corp (FOXA.O) on Monday named Anjali Sud, the former longtime head of video-sharing platform Vimeo, as the chief executive of its streaming service Tubi. Sud recently stepped down as the CEO of Vimeo, after about nine years at the streaming platform. She will report into Tubi Media Group CEO Paul Cheesbrough. Before Vimeo, Sud held positions in finance, media and e-commerce at Time Warner and Amazon.com. In a restructuring in April, Fox created Tubi Media Group to house the streaming service along with some of Fox's news, sports and entertainment digital platforms.

Persons: Anjali Sud, Paul Cheesbrough, Farhad Massoudi, Fox, Cheesbrough, Yuvraj Malik Organizations: Fox Corp, Tubi Media, Time Warner, Fox, Tubi Media Group, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Twitter to offer ad revenue share to select content creators
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 13 (Reuters) - Twitter said on Thursday that select content creators on the social media platform will be eligible to get a part of the advertising revenue the company earns. The content creators will get a share of revenue from ads displayed in their replies, Twitter said, adding that to be eligible the creators should be verified users with at least 5 million impressions on their posts in each of the last 3 months and have a Stripe payment account. loadingTwitter is trying to draw more content creators to the platform. Earlier this year, the company allowed users to offer paid subscription to their content on the platform. Elon Musk, the billionaire who bought Twitter last October, has previously said the company will pass on the entire subscription revenue to creators in the first year excluding payment gateway charges.

Persons: Twitter, Elon Musk, Yuvraj Malik Organizations: Elon, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Elon Musk launches AI firm xAI as he looks to take on OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a Twitter Spaces event Wednesday evening, Musk explained his plan for building a safer AI. Rather than explicitly programming morality into its AI, xAI will seek to create a "maximally curious" AI, he said. Musk in March registered a firm named X.AI Corp, incorporated in Nevada, according to a state filing. The firm lists Musk as the sole director and Jared Birchall, the managing director of Musk's family office, as a secretary. Dan Hendrycks, who will advise the xAI team, is currently director of the Center for AI Safety and his work revolves around the risks of AI.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, xAI, that's, Igor Babuschkin, DeepMind, Tony Wu, Szegedy, Greg Yang, Jared Birchall, Google's Bard, Microsoft's, Bing, Bard, Dan Hendrycks, Tesla, Akash Sriram, Chavi Mehta, Yuvraj Malik, Aditya Soni, Anna Tong, Shailesh Kuber, Leslie Adler Organizations: SpaceX, Twitter, Microsoft, Google, X.AI Corp, Center, AI Safety, X Corp, Thomson Locations: OpenAI, Nevada, San Francisco Bay, Bengaluru, Anna, San Francisco

☆ Associated Press, OpenAI partner to explore generative AI use in news
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

July 13 (Reuters) - News publisher Associated Press said on Thursday it had reached an agreement with OpenAI to share select news content and technology, as the two firms explore the use of generative AI in news products. The arrangement involves OpenAI licensing part of AP's text archive, while AP will leverage the ChatGPT-maker's technology, according to a statement, which added that AP does not use generative AI for its news stories. "News organizations must have a seat at the table ... so that newsrooms large and small can leverage this technology to benefit journalism,” said Kristin Heitmann, AP's senior vice president and chief revenue officer. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: OpenAI, ”, Kristin Heitmann, AP's, Yuvraj Malik, Pooja Desai, Maju Samuel Organizations: Associated Press, AP, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Disney extends CEO Bob Iger's contract through 2026
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The board said in a statement that it aimed to maintain "continuity of leadership during the company’s ongoing transformation." Terms of his contract include opportunity to receive an annual incentive bonus of five times his base salary. In his previous contract, he was entitled to an estimated $27 million per year in total compensation. Meanwhile, the television business is confronting long term and likely irreversible declines in audiences. In February, Disney said it would cut 7,000 jobs in a major overhaul to save $5.5 billion in costs.

Persons: Walt Disney's, Robert Iger's, Iger, Bob Chapek, Disney, Yuvraj Malik, Kenneth Li, Shailesh Kuber, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Disney, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, New York

☆ ViaSat-3 Americas satellite faces deployment issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 12 (Reuters) - Viasat (VSAT.O) said on Wednesday there was an anomaly during the deployment of its ViaSat-3 Americas satellite in space which may affect the performance of the satellite, sending the company's shares down 20% after the bell. An unexpected event occurred during reflector deployment, the company said, adding that it had started a review. The ViaSat-3 Americas, designed to provide broadband connectivity in the Americas region, was launched onboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket on April 30. Other Viasat and Inmarsat satellites were not affected, according to Viasat. The company said it will share additional information on the status of the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite and contingency plans during its earnings call on Aug. 9.

Persons: Yuvraj Malik Organizations: Viasat, ViaSat, May, British, Thomson Locations: Americas, Bengaluru

☆ Roblox beta comes to Meta's Quest VR headsets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

July 12 (Reuters) - Roblox Corp's (RBLX.N) eponymous online game will soon be available on Meta Platforms' (META.O) Quest virtual reality (VR) headsets, according to a blog post by Meta on Wednesday. The game will arrive as a beta version, initially on Quest 2 and Quest Pro, in the coming weeks. "The open beta is a great opportunity for the Roblox developer community to optimize their existing games for Quest and build new ones for VR while gathering input and feedback from the Quest community," Meta said. Roblox, which operates a metaverse – or a virtual place where people play and make transactions, gets 66 million daily users and is available on mobile devices, desktops, and Microsoft's (MSFT.O) Xbox. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Meta, Yuvraj Malik, Shailesh Organizations: Meta, Quest Pro, Quest, VR, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ KPMG to invest $2 billion in AI, cloud services
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 11 (Reuters) - KPMG said on Tuesday it will spend $2 billion on artificial intelligence and cloud services through an expanded partnership with Microsoft (MSFT.O), closely following Accenture (ACN.F) in betting on the latest technologies to weather a slowdown in advisory deals. The accounting firm said it will incorporate AI into its core audit, tax and advisory services for clients as part of the five-year partnership. Professional services firms face a slowdown in business as their customers downsize or hold off on consulting and transformation projects to save costs in a challenging macro economic environment. The expanded partnership will help support KPMG's clients and 2,500 customers serviced jointly by KPMG and Microsoft. Reporting by Lavanya Ahire, Chandni Shah and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Lavanya Ahire, Chandni Shah, Yuvraj Malik, Shounak Dasgupta Organizations: KPMG, Microsoft, Accenture, Professional, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Disney explores strategic options for India business - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 11 (Reuters) - Walt Disney (DIS.N) is exploring strategic options for its Star India business, including a joint venture or a sale, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company has talked to at least one bank about ways to help the India business grow, while sharing some of the costs, according to the report. The talks are in the early stages and it is unclear which options, if any, Disney might pursue, WSJ said. Disney's India business comprises Disney+ Hotstar streaming service and Star India, which it took over when it acquired the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019. Star India, which was rebranded as Disney Star last year, encompasses dozens of TV channels and a stake in a movie production company.

Persons: Walt Disney, Hotstar, Yuvraj Malik, Shounak Dasgupta, Shailesh Organizations: Star India, Wall Street, Disney, Century Fox, Disney Star, Thomson Locations: India, Bengaluru

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