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☆ Disney's Iger may have to add slowing growth to his turnaround checklist
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Disney is also embroiled in a legal fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over state efforts to control Disney World. The media and entertainment giant's Disney+ streaming service is expected to add a net 1.3 million subscribers in the second quarter, compared with additions of 7.9 million a year ago, according to Visible Alpha. "Star Wars" spin-off "The Mandalorian" was Disney+'s most in-demand series both in the U.S. and worldwide during the quarter, according to data provider Parrot Analytics. The streaming unit's operating loss is expected to widen to about $750 million from a loss of nearly $670 million a year earlier. That would mark the slowest growth since the second quarter of 2021, as the company's cable business also takes a hit from an ad market slowdown.

☆ New York Times to get around $100 million from Google over three years - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

May 8 (Reuters) - The New York Times (NYT.N) is getting around $100 million from Google over three years as part of a broad deal that allows the Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) unit to feature Times content on some of its platforms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The deal includes the Times' participation in Google News Showcase, a product that pays publishers to feature their content on Google News and some other Google platforms, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter. The Times in February announced an expansion of its agreement with Google that included content distribution and subscriptions. Google and the Times did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The new generative AI platform was launched two weeks ago and works on the same technology that's behind ChatGPT. The first iteration of the AI platform will be made available to some customers this month, Palantir CEO Alexander Karp said, adding the new offering can assist militaries in targeting enemies. Palantir's first-quarter revenue rose 18% to $525.2 million and adjusted profit stood at 5 cents per share, both above estimates. Palantir continues to tighten its cloud spending and is investing in focus areas like AI, said finance chief David Glazer. The company forecast second-quarter revenue of $528 million and $532 million, below estimates of $536.2 million, per Refinitiv data.

☆ Western Digital Corp sees weak fourth quarter on slower recovery for memory chips
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 8 (Reuters) - Memory chip firm Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) forecast fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates and a bigger current-quarter loss, signaling that memory chip demand will take longer to recover as cloud spending also shrinks. Seagate Technology Holdings (STX.O), which makes hard disks for storage like Western Digital, last month said it was seeing a "more elongated customer inventory correction" and that it expects demand recovery to begin only towards the end of 2023. While memory chipmakers have been cutting production to alleviate oversupply and prop up memory chip pricing, a weak global economic outlook has clouded the hopes for a quicker recovery. Western Digital expects fourth-quarter revenue between $2.40 billion and $2.60 billion. However, Western Digital reported third-quarter revenue of $2.80 billion, beating estimates of $2.70 billion.

May 8 (Reuters) - Data analytics software maker Palantir Technologies (PLTR.N) said on Monday it expects to turn a profit every quarter in 2023 weeks after launching its new artificial intelligence platform, sending its shares up about 28% in extended trading. Palantir's new generative AI platform works on the same technology that's behind ChatGPT. The interest in the new offering has been "unlike anything we have seen", CEO Alexander Karp said in a letter to shareholders, adding the AI platform can assist militaries in targeting enemies. The company forecast second-quarter revenue in the range of $528 million and $532 million, below estimates of $536.2 million, per Refinitiv data. Palantir continues to tighten its cloud spending and is investing in focus areas like AI, said Glazer.

May 4 (Reuters) - Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), posted a surprise first-quarter profit on Thursday and said it would lay off 20% of its workforce in a second round of mass job cuts, sending its U.S.-listed shares more than 18.7% higher in early trade. The layoffs announced on Thursday are expected to result in a severance charge of between $140 million and $150 million in the second quarter. "Combined with the reduction in force, management is showing its commitment to profitability which investors had been concerned about," Luria added. Adjusted profit was 1 cent per share, compared with expectations for a 4 cent loss. Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Akshita Toshniwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Shopify to cut 20% of its workforce, beats quarterly revenue estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Canada's Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), said on Thursday it would cut 20% of its workforce, marking the Canadian e-commerce company's second round of mass layoffs. The company also beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue, sending its U.S.-listed shares up 8% in trading before the bell. The company posted revenue of $1.51 billion in the quarter ended March 31, compared with analysts' estimate of $1.43 billion, according to Refinitiv data. Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Akshita Toshniwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Shopify to lay off 20% of workforce, revenue tops expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Known as the e-commerce platform for small businesses, Shopify had ramped up its order fulfillment network, when it expected the pandemic-led e-commerce boom to persist. But by mid-2022, it said it had over overestimated growth levels and laid off 10% of its workforce in July. Revenue was $1.51 billion in the quarter ended March 31, topping analysts' estimates of $1.43 billion, according to Refinitiv data. The company also posted a surprise adjusted profit of 1 cent per share, compared with expectations for a 4 cent loss. Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Akshita Toshniwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

While Qualcomm hopes smartphone sales will recover in China in the second half of the year, CEO Cristiano Amon told investors on a conference call that "we have not seen evidence of meaningful recovery and are not incorporating improvements into our planning assumptions." The company said a larger-than-normal decline in its chip revenue forecast from the prior quarter was mainly due "to the timing of purchases by a modem-only handset customer." Qualcomm forecast chips revenue of $6.9 billion to $7.5 billion. Qualcomm also faces stiffer competition, especially for high end smartphone chips, from Taiwan's MediaTek (2454.TW). Qualcomm forecast total revenue of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion in the third quarter.

The company said a larger-than-normal decline in its chip revenue forecast from the prior quarter was mainly due "to the timing of purchases by a modem-only handset customer." Qualcomm forecast chips revenue of $6.9 billion to $7.5 billion. Smartphone demand has remained weak despite promotions and price cuts. Qualcomm also faces stiffer competition, especially for high end smartphone chips, from Taiwan's MediaTek (2454.TW). Qualcomm forecast revenue of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion in the third quarter.

☆ TikTok to launch ad product that will give premium content creators 50% cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 3 (Reuters) - TikTok said on Wednesday it is launching a product that well let advertisers place ads alongside content produced by premium publishers, half of the ad revenue from which will be shared with those publishers. The social media platform said brands including Buzzfeed, DotDash Meredith, NBCUniversal, UFC and WWE will be the first to join at the launch of the product called Pulse Premiere on May 4. It is an extension of TikTok's Pulse program, which lets marketers place their brand next to the top 4% of content on the platform, the company said. TikTok in March said it had 150 million monthly active users in the United States, up from 100 million in 2020. Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"AMD results were more vulnerable than Intel's because most AMD-based PC customers were consumers. In contrast, Intel had a significant share in the business PC segment," said Mikako Kitagawa, analyst at research firm Gartner. "The results reflect a weaker consumer PC segment than the business PC segment." Order cuts by networking equipment makers have also cast a shadow over demand for products by Xilinx, the data center and networking chip company AMD acquired last year. Data center segment revenue was flat at $1.30 billion during the quarter.

☆ BlackBerry to review strategic options for its business
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 1 (Reuters) - BlackBerry (BB.TO) said on Monday it will conduct a review of strategic alternatives, which include the possible separation of one or more of the company's businesses. The Canadian technology company's US-listed shares rose 7% in trading after the bell. BlackBerry said it has not set a timeline for the process and does not intend to disclose developments related to the review unless the board has approved a specific agreement or has ended the process. The company added it will continue with the previously announced sale of substantially all of its non-core patents and patent applications related to is mobile devices to Malikie Innovations Limited, a newly formed unit of intellectual property monetization firm Key Patent Innovations Ltd.Once known for its phones with a tiny QWERTY physical keyboard and the BBM instant messaging service, BlackBerry's core businesses today are cybersecurity and software used by automakers. Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

During a conference call with investors, the company projected that adjusted gross margins will climb above 40% in the second half, having hit historic lows in the first half of the year. Underscoring Intel's profitability slump in recent years, its first-quarter unadjusted gross margin fell to 34.2%, almost half of its multi-decade high of over 67% in 2010. The company forecast a further drop to an unadjusted gross margin of 33.2% for the second quarter. "While we understand investors may be disappointed in its 2Q23 gross margin outlook, we are confident that Intel's gross margin will recover in 2H23 as the burden of factory underutilization and new product start-up cost diminishes," said Kinngai Chan, analyst at Summit Insights Group. Intel said adjusted losses were 4 cents per share, above analysts' expectations of a 15 cent per share adjusted loss.

☆ Roku forecasts robust second-quarter revenue as some ad spending improves
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company's ad-supported streaming platform has gained popularity with users trying to cut down on their discretionary spending. Moreover, with streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ adding ad-supported tiers to their services, more advertising dollars are flowing to streaming from TV. Roku added 1.6 million "active accounts" in the reported quarter from the fourth quarter. Roku expects macro uncertainties to persist throughout this year as inflation and recession fears dent consumer spending on discretionary goods. Net revenue rose 1% to $741 million in the first quarter, compared with analysts' expectations of $708.5 million.

☆ KLA Corp forecasts upbeat fourth-quarter on robust demand for chip tools
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 26 (Reuters) - Chip tools maker KLA Corp (KLAC.O) forecast fourth-quarter revenue and profit above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, riding on plans by chipmakers to expand production and build new factories in Europe and the United States. Chipmakers are scrambling to boost capacity and tool makers including KLA and Applied Materials (AMAT.O) will gain from this. KLA makes tools for inspecting the silicon wafer discs, on which semiconductors are built, for defects. KLA forecast current-quarter revenue between $2.13 billion and $2.38 billon, compared to analysts' estimates of $2.17 billion, according to Refinitiv data. Revenue in the third quarter ended March 31 rose 6.3% to $2.43 billion, beating estimates of $2.38 billion.

☆ SpaceX, Rogers to connect mobiles phones to satellites in remote Canadian areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 26 (Reuters) - Rogers Communications (RCIb.TO) and Elon Musk's SpaceX plan to connect mobile phones to satellite-based services aiming to expand coverage to remote areas in Canada, the companies said on Wednesday. The service, which will be delivered via the space company's Starlink satellite network, will cover 4G and 5G phones starting with SMS text and will eventually expand to voice and data service in Canadian areas without networks. "In the future, these investments will deliver wireless connectivity, including access to 911, to even the most remote areas," said Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri. T-Mobile US (TMUS.O) and SpaceX announced a similar partnership in the United States last year. Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

April 25 (Reuters) - Texas Instruments (TXN.O) forecast second-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, signaling demand weakness is spreading to most of the analog chipmaker's end-markets. The company's revenue in both the personal electronics segment and the division that caters to data center servers fell 30% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter. Industrial market revenue was flat. Still automotive was a bright spot in the first quarter, with revenue up mid-single digits, the company said. The company forecast revenue in the current quarter in the range of $4.17 billion to $4.53 billion versus estimates of $4.44 billion.

April 19 (Reuters) - IBM Corp (IBM.N) missed Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, hurt by shrinking corporate spending on IT services and a strong dollar. IBM cut its full-year consulting revenue growth forecast to 6%-8% from earlier expectations of high single-digit percentage growth. IBM, which receives over 75% of its revenue from its software and consulting business units, said its consulting revenue rose 8.2% at constant currency to $4.96 billion in the quarter ended March 31. Accenture signaled to a wider slowdown last month, when it decided to slash about 19,000 jobs and trimmed revenue growth and profit forecasts. Total revenue in the first quarter rose 4.4% at constant currency to $14.25 billion, compared with analysts' estimate of $14.35 billion.

☆ Intel ends its bitcoin mining chip series
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 18 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) said on Tuesday it has discontinued production of its bitcoin mining chip series, just a year after its introduction. A rout in the cryptocurrency market hurt some chip companies including Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), whose high-end graphics chips became popular for crypto mining. Intel expects to stop taking orders for the series, called Blockscale, by October 20 this year and end shipping by April 20 next year, according to a document on the company's website. "As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while we continue to support our Blockscale customers," a company spokesperson said. Argo Blockchain (ARB.L), Block Inc (SQ.N), Hive Blockchain Technologies(HIVE.V) and GRIID Infrastructure were Intel's first customers for the chips.

☆ Microsoft developing its own AI chip - The Information
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 18 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is developing its own artificial intelligence chip code-named "Athena" that will power the technology behind AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Microsoft is hoping the chip will perform better than what it currently buys from other vendors, saving it time and money on its costly AI efforts, the report said. Other big tech companies including Amazon and Google also make their own in-house chips for AI. So far, chip designer Nvidia (NVDA.O) dominates the market for such chips. The rollout is being accelerated by Microsoft following the success of ChatGPT, the report said.

☆ Factbox: Broadcasters go silent on Twitter after 'government-funded' label
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 18 (Reuters) - Public broadcasters ranging from U.S.-based National Public Radio to Canadian Broadcasting Corp have stopped posting on Twitter in recent days after the Elon Musk-owned social media platform labeled their accounts as "government-funded". ** Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)CBC said on Monday it would pause its use of Twitter after the platform labeled it as "69% government-funded media". The Twitter label on the CBC account previously showed "70% government-funded media", but was changed to the current one after the CBC asked Twitter to re-examine the designation. ** Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)PBS, which has around 2.2 million followers on Twitter, halted publishing on Twitter after it was labeled as "government-funded media", according to media reports. ** Hawaii Public RadioHawaii Public Radio, a member station of NPR, said it would stop sharing its content on Twitter after the micro-blogging site labeled NPR's Twitter handle as "government-funded media".

☆ Factbox: Tesla cuts more prices in a bid to spur demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In February, however, the carmaker raised prices of the performance and long-range versions of its Model Y mid-size sport utility vehicles (SUV) in China. The performance Model Y remains 9% cheaper than before the price cuts, while the long-range version is 13% cheaper. GERMANYTesla cut prices on the Model 3 and the Model Y by about 1% to almost 17%, depending on the configuration, in January. SINGAPORETesla cut prices of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles by between 4.3% and 5% in April. Tesla cut prices on real-wheel drive version of both Model 3 and Model Y by S$4,000 ($3,020), and dual motor all-wheel drive version of the two models by S$5,000, its website showed.

Alibaba, one of the most valuable assets in SoftBank's portfolio, tumbled as much as 5.2% in Hong Kong and closed down about 2%. On Wednesday, the FT said forward sales based on filings at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed SoftBank's Alibaba stake would eventually fall to 3.8% from almost 15%. The Japanese group, led by billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, has sold about $7.2 billion worth of Alibaba shares this year through prepaid forward contracts, the newspaper said. "It is well within the realms of expectations that the proportion of Chinese shares among its total investment will shrink further." In New York, Alibaba's shares were up 3% as analysts noted that the stake sale was more due to SoftBank's circumstances.

☆ Ex-Intel chief architect explores data center deals for AI startup in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Chavi Mehta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, April 5 (Reuters) - Intel Corp's (INTC.O) former chief architect Raja Koduri is in talks with Hiranandani-backed data center operator Yotta for a deal for his generative artificial intelligence startup, which he said will have a big presence in India. Koduri, who has worked on nearly two dozen generations of computer graphics chip, plans to build local data centers to ease the access to massive computing power needed for generative AI tools. Generative AI refers to technology such as ChatGPT that can use prompts to whip up haikus, essays and images. The southern state of Karnataka and Telangana have been "very supportive", he said, adding that subsidies on electricity will be crucial as data centers are power guzzlers. He is also joining the board of AI chip startup Tenstorrent, led by veteran chip architect Jim Keller, who led the design of Tesla's (TSLA.O) self-driving chip in 2016.

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