Monday, May 6

Author: Gauri Singh

China’s Digital Economy to Become World’s Largest
18Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
CHINA

China’s Digital Economy to Become World’s Largest

China is the largest economy of the world and now, the digital economy of the country is also expected to become the world's largest amid rapid development as stated by the Hong Kong E-Commerce Association Chairman Joseph Yuen at the second Beijing CED Internet Summit. The overall revenue of China's e-commerce, online travel, and digital media consumption in 2018 is estimated to reach $765 billion. Also, the number of people digitally connected globally will reach 4 billion by 2020. The number of connected devices will reach 25 billion, which means an average of one person has about six devices connected to the internet. China needs to open its market, transfer more scientific and technological achievements, and also cultivate talent in order to accelerate the growth of the digital e...
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Elon Musk to Pay a $20 million Fine & Step Down as the Chairman
18Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
News

Elon Musk to Pay a $20 million Fine & Step Down as the Chairman

Elon Musk, the CEO of the electric vehicle giant Tesla is the largest shareholder of the company and is again looking to buy another $20 million in common stock. As a part of the deal, Musk has agreed to pay a $20 million fine and step down as chairman of the board for at least three years. He will still keep a board seat and has not admitted or denied any of the SEC’s allegations. Along with this, Tesla will pay a separate $20 million fine. The company also agreed to monitor and pre-approve Musk’s communications through channels such as Twitter and the Tesla blog. The 8-K document detailed a settlement agreement between Musk, Tesla and the SEC over allegations of securities fraud connected to his August 7 “funding secured” tweet about taking the electric automaker private. At the...
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Lyft Brings on Board Former United Airlines Chief Commercial Officer
18Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
News

Lyft Brings on Board Former United Airlines Chief Commercial Officer

Ride hailing major Lyft has appointed former United Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Julia Haywood to serve as its VP of Strategy. The basic plan is for her to own Lyft’s market expansion efforts and accelerate growth. “I’m excited to see Julia make a huge impact here at Lyft,” stated Jon McNeill, chief operating officer at Lyft. “We are in a period of hypergrowth, and as the complexity of our product offerings and organization increases, Julia’s hands-on approach to tackling challenges is just what we need to best-position us for the future.” The company is also expected to launch its initial public offering (IPO) an for this it has selected JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the lead underwriter along with Credit Suisse Group and Jeffries Group. It has also been stated that the company’s ...
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Amazon to Take up Stake in Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail
18Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
ACQUISITION

Amazon to Take up Stake in Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail

The e-commerce giant Amazon is all set to acquire a stake of just under 10% in Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail. The deal is likely to be approved by the latter’s board on October 29. The retail major is expected to pick up shares through the foreign portfolio investors route at a hefty premium to the prevailing share price for gaining business exclusivity and future shareholding rights. Future Retail shares ended 14% higher at Rs 494 apiece after television channels stated that Amazon was going to buy a 7-8% stake in the India-based company. Future Retail that operates Big Bazaar and Easy Day supermarkets would reach Rs 25,000-crore market value after this deal. Amazon’s investment has strategic underpinnings and could evolve alongside regulatory and business developments. The Se...
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Samsung Acquires Barcelona based Network Analytics Startup
17Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
ACQUISITION

Samsung Acquires Barcelona based Network Analytics Startup

The technology firm Samsung Electronics has acquired a real-time networks analytics startup called Zhilabs which is based in Barcelona. This acquisition is expected to ease its transition from 4G to 5G technologies. However, the financial details of the acquisition deal have not been disclosed yet. Zhilabs will be fully owned by Samsung, but it will continue to operate independently under its own management. The acquisition of Zhilabs is part of Samsung’s initiative to invest 25 trillion won (about $22 billion) in businesses working on AI, 5G, components for self-driving vehicles, and biopharmaceutical technologies. “5G will enable unprecedented services attributed to the generation of exponential data traffic, for which automated and intelligent network analytics tools are vital. T...
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Two Myntra-Jabong Senior Officials to Exit by December
17Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
News

Two Myntra-Jabong Senior Officials to Exit by December

With senior executives resigning from various important companies, Chief marketing officer of Myntra and head of Jabong Gunjan Soni, and Myntra’s chief strategy officer and head of categories Ananya Tripathi have decided to leave the organization. Both the executives will work with their respective companies till the end of this year. “Gunjan has played a key role in firmly positioning the brand Myntra as the leading destination for fashion and lifestyle,” stated Narayanan. “Ananya has played a key role in strategy and made five successful acquisitions, including Jabong.” Narayanan will continue to head Jabong, working closely with the teams on a daily basis. On the other hand, Manohar Kamath will take over an interim head of categories along with his current portfolio of Myntra Fashi...
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Grocery Delivery Startup Instacart Secures $600 million
17Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
FUNDING

Grocery Delivery Startup Instacart Secures $600 million

A startup that delivers grocery called Instacart has reportedly raised funds amounting to $600 million in its latest funding round. The funds have been basically raised to fight against its rivals as it competes against players like Amazon and valuing the company at $7.6 billion.  The company is based in San-Francisco-based and has been steadily growing in the last few years, helped by partnerships more than 300 retailers including Walmart, Aldi and Kroger. This latest financing round was led by investment firm D1 Capital Partners which raised Instacart's funding till date to more than $1.6 billion. The company has plans to use these funds to further expand in North America and also invest in marketing and hiring. The company said it now has about $1.2 billion in cash to spend on ...
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Netflix Hooks 7 million New Streaming Subscribers
17Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
News

Netflix Hooks 7 million New Streaming Subscribers

Video streaming service Netflix has hooked 7 million new c from July to September. The record number of additions in the third quarter brought Netflix's customer base to 137 million worldwide, confirming its rank as by far the world's biggest online subscription video service. The company's net income rose to $402.8 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $129.6 million a year earlier. Total revenue rose to $4 billion from $2.98 billion a year earlier. The increase in subscribers marked a sharp turnaround from three months ago when investors sent Netflix shares tumbling 14% after it missed Wall Street's subscriber growth targets. "The question at the end of Q2 was whether that miss was an aberration or signs of a longer-term slowdown in the business," said Forrester Res...
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Uber Expected to Reach the Valuation of $120 Billion Next Year
17Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
BUSINESS

Uber Expected to Reach the Valuation of $120 Billion Next Year

The global cab aggregator Uber has been growing at a great pace since its launch. The company is therefore, expected to be valued at valued at $120 billion when it finally goes public next year. According to the Wall Street Journal, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley delivered the valuation proposals to Uber last month. Currently, the proposed valuation of the company is about $50 billion more than the company's most recent valuation, setting the stage for what would be one of the biggest listings ever. Uber and smaller rival Lyft's initial public offerings, both expected in 2019, will test investor tolerance for money losing technology unicorns. Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber stated that in September that Uber was on track for a 2019 IPO, adding that he was not concerned if Lyft went ...
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Sony Launches ‘World’s Toughest and Fastest’ SD Cards in India
17Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
Tech

Sony Launches ‘World’s Toughest and Fastest’ SD Cards in India

Sony expanded the SF-G Series with the launch of the new UHS-II SD card range that is touted to be the world's toughest and fastest. Dubbed Tough, the new SF-G series is claimed to offer read speeds up to 300MBps and write speeds up to 299MBps. Sony has also offered a bend proof build that can be bent to 180N and resist a drop of up to five metres. All this makes it the new SD cards 18 times stronger than the SD standard that withstands 10N force, Sony claims. Further, the new SF-G Series SD cards have an IP68 rating that makes them water- and dust-resistant. While the 64GB Sony SF-G64T in the new series comes with a price tag of Rs. 13,290, the 128GB SF-G128T is priced at Rs. 24,590. Both new models are already available for purchase through all Sony Center, Alpha Flagship stores, and ...
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Alten Calsoft Labs acquired Bengaluru-based Chip Design Company
16Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
ACQUISITION

Alten Calsoft Labs acquired Bengaluru-based Chip Design Company

The subsidiary of the $2.2-billion French IT firm Alten Group known as Alten Calsoft Labs acquired Bengaluru-based chip design company Si2Chip. The basic purpose of this acquisition is to expand its footprint in the VLSI (very large-scale integration) practice and bolster its semiconductor portfolio. Following this acquisition, the company will add 200 engineers to Alten Calsoft's VLSI division. According to the sources, the size of the acquisition is expected to be under $10 million. Talking about Si2Chip, the company has delivered over 200 projects and counts the top ten semiconductor companies as its customers. It was founded in 2013 and has a a deep understanding of IPs, and optimisation of system-on-chip (SOC) designs. “We are poised to deliver excellence in next-generation tec...
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Yet Again, OYO Forays into Another Nation
16Oct By Gauri SinghNo Comments
BUSINESS

Yet Again, OYO Forays into Another Nation

OYO, the India-based budget hotel chain has been foraying into various countries since a long time. And yet again, the company has entered into another region that is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). OYO has become one of the most reached hospitality chain in India and is growing its existence day by day in other countries as well. The company has stated that with over ten full-inventory, franchised and operated hotels and over 1100 rooms in three Emirates in Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah, the room rates in the market will start at 150 dirhams. “With over 170 countries committing to the World Expo 2020, the hospitality sector in the Middle East, and more specifically UAE, is poised to grow substantially and with our market learnings and expertise we are ready to tap this opportunity,” ...
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