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Warren Buffett Says Berkshire ‘Fine’ With Trump or Clinton

3May By reutersNo Comments

Entrepreneurs Talk

Warren Buffett Says Berkshire ‘Fine’ With Trump or Clinton

Warren Buffett said on Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway Inc is poised to do well no matter who wins the White House in November, and the billionaire investor defended the performance and tactics of the conglomerate's several large investments. Buffett presided over his 51st Berkshire annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, where he and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger fielded five hours of questions on such matters as Coca-Cola's sugary drinks, lower shipping volumes on the BNSF railroad, risks from derivatives, and who might succeed Buffett as chief executive. Buffett, a staunch supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, was asked about the regulatory impact on Berkshire if Republican front-runner Donald Trump wins the 2016 U.S. presidential election. "That won't be the main pro...

I Sold My Entire Apple Stake Because of China – Billionaire Carl Icahn

30Apr By reutersNo Comments

Entrepreneurs Talk

I Sold My Entire Apple Stake Because of China – Billionaire Carl Icahn

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said Thursday he had sold his entire stake in Apple Inc, citing the risk of China's influence on the stock. Icahn, in an interview with cable television network CNBC, also said he was "still very cautious" on the U.S. stock market and there would be a "day of reckoning" unless there was some sort of fiscal stimulus. Icahn had been a huge cheerleader of Apple, acquiring a stake in the company almost three years ago, repeatedly calling the investment a "no brainer." In an open letter to Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook in May 2015, Icahn had argued that shares of the iPhone maker were worth $240, about 90 percent more than they had been trading. At $240 a share, Apple's market cap would be $1.4 trillion, Icahn asserted. But Icahn, wh...

Uber vs Ola: How Fight For Indian Taxi Market Ended Up in Court

29Apr By reutersNo Comments

Story

Uber vs Ola: How Fight For Indian Taxi Market Ended Up in Court

A flurry of complaints from Uber drivers about an unusually high number of canceled bookings was the spark that ignited a bitter legal fight with Ola, Uber's rival for dominance of India's $12 billion taxi market, according to court documents and a source with direct knowledge of Uber's case. A seven-member internal team was set up to investigate the drivers' complaints in November, and its findings are the basis of a lawsuit filed by Uber accusing Ola of a campaign to disrupt its business and poach its drivers, said the source. Ola, an Indian company backed by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, denies any wrongdoing. Uber is suing Ola for $7.5 million to compensate for lost revenue and goodwill, alleging the Indian market leader created about 94,000 fake user accounts with the ride-hai...

Google, Ford, Uber launch coalition to further self-driving cars

27Apr By reutersNo Comments

News

Google, Ford, Uber launch coalition to further self-driving cars

Alphabet Inc's Google unit, Ford Motor Co, the ride-sharing service Uber and two other companies said on Tuesday they are forming a coalition to push for federal action to help speed self-driving cars to market. Sweden-based Volvo Cars, which is owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co GEELY.UL, and Uber rival Lyft also are part of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets. The group said in a statement it will "work with lawmakers, regulators and the public to realize the safety and societal benefits of self-driving vehicles." The coalition said David Strickland, the former top official of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the top U.S. auto safety agency that is writing new guidance on self-driving cars, will be the coalition’s counsel and ...

Google Glass-based startup raises $17 million in funding

26Apr By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING, News

Google Glass-based startup raises $17 million in funding

Augmedix Inc, a startup that uses Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Glass to provide documentation services to doctors and other healthcare workers, said on Monday it had closed a $17 million (11.7 million pounds) funding round led by investment firm Redmile Group. Augmedix's employees transcribe doctors' notes and update patients' electronic medical record through Google Glass. The San Francisco company, which has raised $40 million so far, also said it had received investments from five U.S. healthcare networks, including Sutter Health and Dignity Health, which together have more than 100,000 healthcare workers. Augmedix, with 400 employees, said it serves doctors in nearly all 50 U.S. states. Funds raised will be used to build up the service to serve more health systems and pr...

Facebook developing camera app similar to Snapchat: Report

26Apr By reutersNo Comments

News

Facebook developing camera app similar to Snapchat: Report

Facebook Inc (FB.O) is developing a stand-alone camera app, similar to disappearing photo app Snapchat, to increase user engagement, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The app, being developed by Facebook's "friend-sharing" team in London, is in its early stages and may never come to fruition, according to the report. (on.wsj.com/24fDRxN) The company is also planning a feature that allows a user to record video through the app to begin live streaming, the newspaper reported. Facebook declined to comment on the report.

How Swedish Startup Neo Technology Helped Crack The Panama Papers

23Apr By reutersNo Comments

Story

How Swedish Startup Neo Technology Helped Crack The Panama Papers

Every start-up hopes for a lucky break. Swedish company Neo Technology only found out it was getting one the day the Panama Papers made headlines around the world. Journalists with access to the vast trove of data used the firm's open-source database to make sense of 11.5 million documents, including emails, images, and spreadsheets, leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Neo Technology's "graph database" literally connected the dots for them, helping find names of the rich and powerful and linking them to offshore accounts. "I was blown away," co-founder and CEO Emil Eifrem said of the moment he discovered, just hours before publication, that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) had been using his product for the Panama Papers. "It's such a ...

Sunil Bharti Backed OneWeb To Build 15 Internet Satellites Per Week

21Apr By reutersNo Comments

News

Sunil Bharti Backed OneWeb To Build 15 Internet Satellites Per Week

Satellite internet Startup OneWeb Ltd plans to manufacture 15 satellites per week at a planned factory in Florida as part of its push to provide global high-speed internet access, company officials said on Tuesday. Backed by Richard Branson's Virgin Group and other well-known firms, OneWeb aims to supply internet services worldwide through a fleet of 700 or more satellites it expects to have in orbit and operating by the end of 2019. Construction of the Florida factory has not yet begun and OneWeb did not say when manufacturing would start. On Tuesday, it unveiled the factory's location near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two days after Reuters reported it. The first group of 10 satellites are being built at partner Airbus' Toulouse, France facility. Typically, com...

White House Declines To Support Encryption Legislation – Sources

7Apr By reutersNo Comments

USA

White House Declines To Support Encryption Legislation – Sources

The White House is declining to offer public support for draft legislation that would empower judges to require technology companies such as Apple Inc to help law enforcement crack encrypted data, sources familiar with the discussions said. The decision all but assures that the years-long political impasse over encryption will continue even in the wake of the high-profile effort by the Department of Justice to force Apple to break into an iPhone used by a gunman in last December's shootings in San Bernardino, California. President Obama suggested in remarks last month that he had come around to the view that law enforcement agencies needed to have a way to gain access to encrypted information on smartphones. But the administration remains deeply divided on the issue, the sources s...

Tesla says Model 3 orders top $10 billion in first 36 hours

4Apr By reutersNo Comments

News

Tesla says Model 3 orders top $10 billion in first 36 hours

Tesla Motors Inc said orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 253,000 bookings in the first 36 hours, a fast start for the company's first mass-market vehicle, which may not begin to reach customers for another 18 months or more. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that the Model 3, which is slated to go into production in late 2017, will sell at an average price of $42,000, including the price of options and additional features, which would give the initial flurry of orders an estimated retail value of $10.6 billion. That intense interest, fanned in part by a steady stream of tweets by Musk, could help boost Tesla's stock price, which closed Friday at $237.59, up 3.4 percent. The stock has soared more than 60 percent since hitting a 12-month low in Feb...

Alaska Air Acquired Richard Branson’s Virgin America For Over $2 billion: Sources

3Apr By reutersNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Alaska Air Acquired Richard Branson’s Virgin America For Over $2 billion: Sources

Alaska Air Group Inc is nearing a deal to acquire Virgin America Inc, the ninth-largest U.S. airline by passenger traffic, for more than $2 billion, having outbid JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O), people familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The acquisition would herald the first U.S. commercial airline merger since US Airways and American Airlines combined in 2013 to form the world's largest carrier. It would boost the size of Alaska Air's home market by allowing it to expand into lucrative hubs such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Alaska Air is set to pay between $56 and $58 per share to acquire Virgin America, the people said. A deal could be announced as early as Monday, the people added, asking not to be identified because the agreement had not yet been finalized. A...

Amazon, Microsoft Look for Data Role in Self-Driving Cars With Here: Report

2Apr By reutersNo Comments

News

Amazon, Microsoft Look for Data Role in Self-Driving Cars With Here: Report

Amazon.com and Microsoft are in talks to supply cloud computing to digital mapping business Here.com, owned by a group of German carmakers developing self-driving cars, sources familiar with the matter said. Amazon is also considering becoming a shareholder in Here, two sources said. Last year, carmakers BMW, Audi and Mercedes struck a EUR 2.5 billion ($2.85 billion or roughly Rs. 18,928 crores) deal to buy Nokia's Here maps business. Intelligent mapping systems supply information to control self-driving cars, which are equipped with street-scanning sensors to measure traffic and road conditions. This location data can in turn be shared with other map users. "Amazon would take a stake as part of a broader deal to lock them in as a provider of cloud computing services," one sour...