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☆ Ericsson sees margin at lower end of target; pushes for cost cuts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummarySummary Companies Company to reach lower end of 15-18% EBITA range by 2024Accelerating cost cuts of 9 bln SEK by end of next yearSTOCKHOLM, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST) said on Thursday it would reach the lower end of its long-term target of a profit (EBITA) margin of 15-18% by 2024 as several of its more profitable markets show signs of slowing down. While U.S. and other markets are slowing down, Ericsson is hoping newer markets such as India would help it balance some of the lower demand for 5G equipment. The company is now accelerating plans to cut costs by 9 billion crowns ($880 million) by the end of 2023. While demand for 5G equipment has been strong, the early stages of rollouts tend to have lower margins, meaning telecom groups such as Ericsson and Finnish rival Nokia (NOKIA.HE) rely on patent royalties to boost profits. On Wednesday, Ericsson said U.S. regulators had extended its monitoring of the company for compliance following the 2019 settlement for one more year.

☆ Nobel awards to take place in Stockholm with full glitz and glamour
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NTB/Haakon Mosvold Larsen via REUTERSSTOCKHOLM, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Nobel laureates congregated in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Saturday for the first fully in-person award ceremonies complete with a formal banquet since the COVID-19 pandemic that curtailed events in the past two years. Five of the six Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm every year after a nomination process that is kept secret for the next 50 years. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo where separate festivities are held. The Nobel Foundation has also snubbed the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Jailed Belarusian activist Ales Byalyatski, Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

LONDON/STOCKHOLM, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The European tech industry saw $400 billion in value wiped out this year and an 18% decline in venture capital funding, according to a report from venture capital firm Atomico. "The European tech ecosystem is facing the most challenging macroeconomic environment since the global financial crisis," Tom Wehmeier, partner at Atomico, told Reuters. Venture capital funding in Europe was down to $85 billion for the year, based on data collected across 41 countries, an 18% decline from the $100 billion raised in 2021. In a survey of founders and investors on the continent, 77% said they were either as enthusiastic, or more so, about the future of the European tech industry than in 2021. "The financial markets have changed, and with that, the expectations of everyone working within the European tech industry need to evolve."

Google recently conducted an experiment in Europe where it sought to counter anti-refugee narratives online in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Like other countries, misinformation spreads rapidly across India, mostly through social media, creating political and religious tensions. Indian government officials have called on tech companies such as Google, Meta, and Twitter to take stronger action against the spread of fake news. Inflammatory messages have also spread via Meta's messaging service Whatsapp, which has more than 200 million users in India. The company's recent research on the subject suggested viewers were 5% more likely to identify misinformation after watching such videos.

☆ Spotify CEO renews attack on Apple after Musk's salvo
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

loadingEk tagged a number of sympathetic business leaders in his 21-tweet thread, including Musk, Microsoft president Brad Smith, and Proton founder Andy Yen. Spotify has previously submitted antitrust complaints against Apple in various countries, alleging the 30% charge has forced Spotify to "artificially inflate" its own prices. Tim Sweeney, the CEO of "Fortnite" maker Epic Games, tweeted on Wednesday that fighting Apple's "monopoly" was "an American issue transcending party politics". Musk is expected to talk with European Commissioner Thierry Breton via videocall on Wednesday afternoon, though the agenda was unknown. The pair previously met in Texas in May, ahead of Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter, where they signaled broad agreement on EU tech regulation policy.

Musk also suggested Apple had threatened to block Twitter from its app store, although he did not explain why. loadingSpotify has previously submitted antitrust complaints against the iPhone-maker in Europe, and Epic Games sued Apple in the United States in 2020. The European Commission has been investigating whether Apple's rules for app developers violate its rules after Spotify filed an antitrust case against Apple in 2019. "Apple continues to disadvantage competitors, and the impact is huge - on consumers, app developers, and now, authors and publishers. Apple, Twitter and Spotify did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

☆ Want to create a startup? Join another first
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A sticker of French ride-sharing start-up BlaBlaCar is seen on a car May 27, 2017 at Le Coudray-Montceaux, near Paris, France. Each of those companies has led to the creation of more than 20 startups, helmed by former employees. Former employees from each of the newer startups like Babylon, Celonis, iZettle (IPO-IZET.ST) and SumUp have also created more than 10 companies. "Unicorns tend to create more rounded founders than large organizations like the tech behemoths because people have had kind of a better training ground for entrepreneurial activity," Nelis said. Employees in a startup tends to get access to many different functions from engineering to sales, giving them exposure to various parts of the business, he said.

But a new U.S. law offering hefty subsidies to local manufacturers of green technology has given the company pause for thought. That is roughly four times what the German government is offering, he said, with cheaper energy prices in the United States on top. The act introduces tax credits related to investment in green technology, plus tax breaks for consumers buying an electric vehicle or other green product made in North America. German carmakers and suppliers, for which the United States is a main export market, are among its biggest victims. "If we don't do anything, a lot will emerge in the United States," said Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) Chief Executive Christian Bruch.

☆ Chinese nickel firm Lygend to raise $470 mln in Hong Kong IPO - sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Alexander Marrow | Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 25 (Reuters) - Chinese nickel producer and trader Lygend Resources has priced shares at HK$15.80 apiece to raise $470m in its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Ningbo-based firm sold 232.54 million shares in the IPO, the fourth largest in Hong Kong so far in 2022. The biggest IPO fundraising so far this year has been CALB's (3931.HK) $1.28 billion issue. The company says it is the world's largest nickel product trader, and the largest in China in terms of nickel ore trading in 2021, with a market share of 26.8% in 2021. ($1 = 7.8120 Hong Kong dollars)Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Georgina Lee in Hong Kong; Additional reporting Gao Zhuo; Editing by Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Mobile operator Veon to sell Russian business for $2.2 bln
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Veon also operates Beeline in Kazakhstan and Kyivstar in Ukraine. Veon said the management buyout of Vimpelcom implied an expected enterprise value of approximately 370 billion roubles. Though Veon is selling at a discount, the transaction represents a relatively rare example of money changing hands between parties as companies race to exit Russia. The shares have traded near record lows since tumbling after Russia began what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. "The management buyout of our Russian operations will benefit all involved," Veon CEO Kaan Terzioglu said in a statement to Reuters.

☆ Apple's Pro iPhones will be harder to find in stores this holiday -Best Buy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) high-end iPhones will be in short supply at stores this holiday season, Best Buy Co Inc's (BBY.N) chief executive said on Tuesday, as the tech giant grapples with production issues at a virus-blighted plant in China. read moreThe supply issues are expected to most significantly impact Apple's premium iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models, which start at nearly $1,000. Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said the electronics retail giant was seeing a shortage in stocks of the premium iPhones and had factored the expected loss in sales into its holiday quarter forecast. Apple's iPhones and other products draw a lot of customers to Best Buy stores and often trigger impulse buying of other gadgets as well. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimates 8 million iPhone 14 units will be sold over the Black Friday weekend, about 2 million fewer than a year ago.

☆ Huawei separates Russia business from other CIS countries -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Chinese telecoms giant Huawei [RIC:RIC:HWT.UL] is separating its corporate division in Russia and Belarus from other CIS countries, a source close to the company told Reuters on Tuesday. The other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, made up of former Soviet republics, will now fall under the supervision of Huawei's office in Bahrain. Work to make the change has started and the new arrangement will officially become operational at the start of 2023, the source told Reuters. Vedomosti in September reported that Huawei had moved some employees in Russia to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Alexander Marrow Editing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia's Tele2 files lawsuit against Ericsson over Russia withdrawal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 11 (Reuters) - Russian telecoms firm Tele2 has started legal proceedings in Moscow against Ericsson (ERICb.ST) over what it says is the Swedish firm's refusal to honour agreements to supply equipment, Tele2 representatives told Reuters on Friday. A spokesperson for Ericsson said: "We are aware of a lawsuit reported in Russian news media, but cannot comment further at this time." In a statement to Reuters on Friday, Tele2 said: "We have initiated proceedings against Ericsson Corporation and Satel TVK due to the refusal of the companies to fulfil their obligations to provide equipment. Satel TVK is a Russian company that supplied Tele2 with Ericsson equipment. Tele2 said it had engaged in eight months of negotiations with Ericsson to attempt to find a solution, but had not received "constructive proposals" from the company.

The groups said on Friday they are escalating their pressure and demanding brands pull their Twitter ads globally. Staff who worked in engineering, communications, product, content curation and machine learning ethics were among those impacted by the layoffs, according to tweets from Twitter staff. Shannon Raj Singh, an attorney who was Twitter's acting head of human rights, tweeted on Friday that the entire human rights team at the company had been cut. Musk tweeted that his team had made no changes to content moderation and done "everything we could" to appease the groups. Employees of Twitter Blue, the premium subscription service that Musk is bolstering, were also let go.

PARIS/STOCKHOLM, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Telecom operators are pushing the European Union to implement new laws that would make Big Tech pay for network costs, following Australia's example, according to four sources close to the matter. "GSMA is coordinating a proposal that speaks to Big Tech contribution to European infrastructure investment," said John Giusti, GSMA's chief regulatory officer, without elaborating on the content of the proposal. Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Australia's recently-adopted laws in its own spat with Google and Facebook have emerged as the most-favoured weapon for telecoms operators in their dispute with Big Tech companies, the sources said. The rules, first aimed at compelling tech giants to pay for news content online, allow an Australian government-appointed arbitrator to set fees if Big Tech companies and news publishers fail to find a common ground over copyright.

The company's content moderation team is expected to be a target of the cuts, tweets from Twitter employees suggested on Friday. Twitter employees vented their frustrations about the layoffs on the social network, using the hashtag #OneTeam. User Rachel Bonn tweeted: "Last Thursday in the SF (San Francisco) office, really the last day Twitter was Twitter. The company's office in Piccadilly Circus, London, appeared deserted on Friday, with no employees in sight. Employees told Reuters they were left to piece together information through media reports, private messaging groups and anonymous forums.

☆ Jury begins deliberating in Trump ally Barrack's 'foreign agent' trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

He argues that even when his interests aligned with the UAE's, he was acting on his own accord and not subject to Abu Dhabi's direction. Barrack's lawyers did not dispute that he had been in touch with Emirati officials and occasionally sought their feedback, but they said any impact on U.S. policy or public opinion was insignificant. Sam Nitze, a prosecutor, countered in a rebuttal that Emirati officials were "thrilled" at Barrack's comments about the country and its leaders during television interviews. He said the law was designed to make sure the U.S. government knew when someone was acting as a "mouthpiece" for a foreign government. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BENGALURU/STOCKHOLM, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Messaging app WhatsApp was starting to come back online at 0900 GMT and the company said the issue has been fixed after users across the world reported problems earlier on Tuesday. At around 0750 GMT, outage reporting site Downdetector had shown over 68,000 users had reported problems with the app in the United Kingdom. We have fixed the issue and apologise for any inconvenience," a spokesperson for WhatsApp parent company Meta Platforms (META.O) said. The company had not sent any fresh updates as users in Asia, India and the United Kingdom started seeing some connections come back online. In the past, rival apps like Telegram, Snap or even Meta's Instagram have seen temporary spikes in users when WhatsApp has been down.

The company's cloud business has been growing at a rapid clip, rising 38% in the third quarter to 3.29 billion euros ($3.25 billion). Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAt that time it envisaged total adjusted revenue of 36 billion euros in 2025, with 22 billion euros of that coming from the cloud business. Total revenue grew 5% in currency-adjusted terms to 7.84 billion euros, SAP said, beating analyst expectations of 7.62 billion euros. SAP stuck with its full-year operating profit forecast of between 7.6 billion and 7.9 billion euros. That forecast was made in July, when it cut its guidance from between 7.8 billion and 8.25 billion euros, citing charges related to the war in Ukraine.

☆ WhatsApp down: users report issues around the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Nivedita Bhattacharjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A woman uses her phone next to a logo of the WhatsApp application during Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, India September 20, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File PhotoBENGALURU, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Popular messaging app WhatsApp stopped working for many people across the world on Tuesday, with users in Asia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Europe reporting issues sending and receiving texts and videos. At around 0750 GMT, outage reporting site Downdetector showed over 68,000 users had reported problems with the app in the United Kingdom. When Whatsapp had an hours-long outage last October, it hit trading of assets from cryptocurrencies to oil, before traders switched to alternative platforms such as Telegram. "Don't recheck your internet connection... WhatsApp is down right now," a user tweeted.

"SAP is fully committed to winding down our business in Russia as quickly as possible," a SAP spokesperson said. Russia's parliament has been discussing draft legislation that would allow Moscow to seize Western companies' assets and possibly prosecute executives involved in implementing sanctions against Russia. While Gazprom and Sberbank were hit by Western sanctions, Nornickel was not. The SAP case sheds light on the complications Western companies face leaving Russia. While some departing companies have fired local staff, SAP gave them the option to relocate from Russia.

☆ Telia cuts outlook as soaring energy costs eat into profit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Electricity prices have hit record levels in Europe after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a fall in nuclear power production in several countries. Telia, which operates in the Nordic and Baltic countries, has hedged expects electricity costs to go up by 600 million crowns from 2.2 billion in 2022. Despite higher energy costs, quarterly core earnings were broadly in line with market expectations as Telia's business grew in all its markets for the first time in a decade. Third-quarter adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose to 8.07 billion Swedish crowns from 7.74 billion a year ago, while analysts had expected 8.13 billion crowns, according to a company-provided poll. In the latest quarter, the company saved 100 million crowns in costs.

While the revenue of both companies beat expectations thanks to the rollout of 5G, delayed royalty payments meant their core profit missed analysts' expectations. Shares in Ericsson slumped 12% and were the worst performers in the STOXX 600 (.STOXX) while Nokia shares fell almost 5% to be among the worst. Companies such as Ericsson charge $2.50 to $5 for every 5G handset they sell and come under pressure when negotiating new contracts. Ericsson's quarterly royalty revenue fell 1.1 billion Swedish crowns ($98.24 million) as it battled companies such as Apple (AAPL.O) over patents. Nokia's patent revenue was down by 62 million euros ($60.67 million), mainly due to a dispute with Oppo and Vivo.

☆ Nokia quarterly operating profit lags expectation
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Nokia (NOKIA.HE) on Thursday reported quarterly operating profit below market expectations even as the Finnish telecom equipment maker continues to benefit from strong demand from phone companies as they roll out 5G. Third-quarter comparable operating profit rose to 658 million euros ($643.3 million) from 633 million last year, lagging the 690.6 million euro mean forecast of 10 analysts polled by Refinitiv. ($1 = 1.0229 euros)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ericsson's quarterly earnings miss estimates
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Sweden's Ericsson (ERICb.ST) on Thursday reported third-quarter core earnings that missed expectations for the second quarter in a row, as margins took a hit from higher component and logistics costs. The company's quarterly adjusted operating earnings fell to 7.1 billion Swedish crowns ($633.05 million) from 8.8 billion crowns a year earlier, missing analysts' mean forecast of 8.73 billion, according to Refinitiv data. ($1 = 11.2155 Swedish crowns)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; editing by Niklas PollardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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