Business, Financial & Legal News - Page 86

Intel is accelerating its $20 billion stock buyback strategy because of lower share values, and soon plans to buy up $10 billion worth of stock.

Despite sharp upticks in Q2 revenues ($19 billion, +20%) and net income ($5.1 billion, +22%), Intel's shares have dived nearly 20% in the last month due to the delay of its 7nm process to 2022.

Intel believes its shares are worth more than their recent trade values, so the company is spending $10 billion of its cash reserves to buy up 166 million shares of its stock. The motivation here is to raise stock prices by reducing the amount of shares on the market, thereby reducing dilution of the share value.

The entire world is changing and evolving to new standards, tens of millions more people working from home -- all over the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. In the middle of it, Samsung and Logitech see opportunity -- and have announced a new strategic partnership.

The companies will be collaborating on bringing the world the most "comprehensive display lineup including digital signages and desktop monitors, with Logitech's wide variety of video conferencing solutions for both meeting rooms and personal desks".

Samsung explains that its displays can turn any space, whether it is in the office or at home, into a productive workspace. Samsung adds: "Samsung monitors are available in a wide range of sizes, resolutions and screen types, from ultra-wide curve to traditional flat screens, to offer users the perfect fit. When paired with Logitech's USB-compatible conference cams such as MeetUp and Rally, and webcams such as Brio, C930e and C925e, any location can be transformed into an integrated workspace, saving users' valuable time while still providing powerful functionality".

If you were about to pull the trigger on a new upgrade, I would suggest waiting just a little while longer. Not only do we have NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3000 series cards, but AMD's new RDNA 2-based Radeon cards, too.

In the middle of that, SSD and RAM prices are plummeting and will continue to do so well into 2021. According to a new report, the prices are tumbling because of an oversupply of both DRAM and NAND-based products.

DRAMeXhange explains: "Despite the traditional peak season for electronics sales and the release of Apple's new iPhones in 3Q20, the quarterly decline in NAND flash ASP [average selling price] will likely reach 10 percent, due to the client end's excess inventory under the impact of the pandemic".

Google is saying that it could "no longer guarantee" accurate search results, as well as news organizations having the power to "artificially inflate their ranking online" and Google services to Australians could change under new laws proposed by the Australian government.

Where is this coming from? The ACCC (or Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) ruled that Australians should be paying for the news it uses. Google hit back, saying that the proposed changes would make internet and video search results "dramatically worse", adding that "the way Aussies search every day on Google is at risk".

In a new "open letter" to Australians, Google Australia managing director Mel Silva said: "We're going to do everything we possibly can to get this proposal changed so we can protect how search and YouTube work for you in Australia and continue to build constructive partnerships with news media businesses; not choose one over the other".

Sony wants to buy AT&T's Crunchyroll anime service, but it's not willing to pay the huge $1.5 billion asking price.

AT&T is interested in selling its Cruncyroll division to Sony, sources tell The Information. Sony also wants to buy. But there's just one big problem: The price tag. AT&T wants $1.5 billion for Crunchyroll, and Sony simply isn't willing to pay that much. For perspective, that's more than the all time record $1 billion profit high the PlayStation division made in Q1'20.

If Sony acquires Crunchyroll (and right now it seems to be a matter of when, not if) it'll be an undisputed king of on-demand anime content. Sony Pictures already owns Funimation, which it bought in 2017 for $143 million.

David Blaine is returning, but not in the way you'd expect -- the magician has announced his first major live event in over 10 years that will broadcast exclusively on his YouTube channel.

The magician is calling his new stunt 'Ascension' which will see Blaine attach himself to a bunch of helium balloons -- which would look like the Pixar movie Up. Blaine will hold onto the helium balloons, he will float across the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York.

Blaine tweeted out: "This stunt has been 10 years in the making. Let's turn worry into wonder and take magic to new heights". YouTube gets in on the Ascension hype, adding: "Watch in disbelief as David Blaine magically ascends above Earth, in his biggest live performance yet".

AT&T currently owes over $150 billion in debt, but sub-2% bond interest rates and lucrative broadband business give the company extreme confidence in managing these colossal numbers.

Photo credit: Roberto Machado Noa (Getty Images)

At the recent 23rd Annual Oppenheimer Conference, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens discussed the company's strategies and current position to handle its $152 billion in debt, and gives slight inference on whether or not WarnerMedia's WB Games division will be sold. Reports say Warner Bros., who is wholly-owned by AT&T, will sell of its gaming division in a $4 billion deal that includes all major game studio subsidiaries like Netherealm, Monolith, WB Montreal, and Rocksteady.

Amazon caused the great retail decline, and now it may go full circle to resurrect the very malls it helped killed.

Amazon may buy up all defunct Sears and JC Penney stores and transform them into fulfillment centers. Sources tell The Wall Street Journal that Amazon is in talks with Simon Malls, the largest US mall operator in the United States, to utilize the empty stores for its massively-growing delivery business.

Before both companies closed down a majority of stores, JC Penney and Sears were cornerstones to pretty much every mall in America. Now these empty buildings are eyesores that don't generate revenue. Amazon centers could revitalize revenue for Simon Malls and solve one of Amazon's biggest problems.

The entire TikTok mess right now is taking over headlines, with Microsoft reportedly buying the entire global operations of TikTok and not just the US portion -- but now things just got more serious.

President Trump has just signed a new executive order that gives just 45 days for both TikTok and WeChat, and their respective Chinese-owned parent companies from operating in the US and doing business with American companies, if they're not sold.

In his letter to Congress, President Trump explains: "Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users -- threatens to allow the CCP access to Americans' personal and proprietary information".

The last week has been an interesting one for both Microsoft and TikTok, with the Trump administration and China thrown into the mix over rumors that the Windows giant was going to acquire the TikTok's US business.

But now we have new reports from the Financtial Times that says they've had sources tell them Microsoft is reportedly mulling a complete buyout of TikTok's entire global business from ByteDance. ByteDance is based in China, and has the Trump administration keeping a close eye over the deal.

The Financial Times reports that this deal would reportedly not include ByteDance's sister Chinese app, Douyin. One of the roadblocks of this huge acquisition of TikTok is that Microsoft is looking into whether it is able to add regions like India and Europe into the deal.