AAPL - Apple Inc.

Google to Invest $3.3 Billion to Grow European Data Centers

(Bloomberg) -- Google will invest 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) over the next two years to expand its server farms across Europe.The investments take its total spend on European data centers to 15 billion euros since 2007, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told reporters in Helsinki on Friday following a meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne.It’s also investing 1 billion euros in renewable power in Belgium, Denmark and Sweden. Among the projects are a 600 million-euro expansion of its existing data center in Finland, as well as two wind projects in the Nordic nation.The Alphabet Inc. company on Thursday announced a series of new deals to buy wind and solar power in the largest-ever collective purchase of renewable energy by a single company. The move shows how corporations are increasingly turning to clean energy as costs of wind and solar fall and investors push them to fight climate change.The Mountain View, California-based company said it has matched 100% of its electricity consumption with renewable energy the past two years.Google’s investment in its Hamina server complex on the south coast of Finland will now reach 2 billion euros. It has built other European data centers in Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium to feed demand for faster access to files and media.However, big tech companies don’t always follow through on their internet infrastructure promises. Earlier this year, Apple Inc. shelved plans to build a second data center in Denmark, and canceled a similar project in Ireland.(Updates with background on Google’s data centers)To contact the reporter on this story: Leo Laikola in Helsinki at llaikola@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kati Pohjanpalo at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net, Giles TurnerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Amazon’s Emissions Bigger Than Some Rivals, Trail Walmart

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. contributed more greenhouse gas emissions last year than some big competitors in retail, logistics and technology, but less than rival Walmart Inc. and the world’s biggest energy companies, highlighting the growing scale and diverse businesses of the conglomerate.The disclosure by Amazon of its 2018 carbon emissions, 44.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, including purchased electricity and indirect emissions, came Thursday when the company committed to powering all of its business operations by renewable energy sources by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality a decade later.Amazon’s emissions exceed the reported totals of United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. as well as Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Target Corp. in data compiled by CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project. Amazon’s total is 38% less than rival Walmart, the group said.“It’s a big number,” said Bruno Sarda, president of CDP North America, adding that Amazon’s emissions compare to a large power company. “They probably wouldn’t make the top 50, but when you look at what’s up there, it’s mostly all the large fossil fuel companies.”An Amazon spokesman said the company’s disclosures, which accounted for emissions generated by customer trips to retail stores such as Whole Foods, captured a fuller picture than those of some competitors.Amazon for years has frustrated climate advocates by refusing to participate in increasingly common corporate social responsibility and environmental disclosures. But employees and shareholders have been pressuring the company to change. A shareholder proposal in May requesting an Amazon climate policy failed -- but drew 30% of votes cast.“We’ve been requesting this information from them for 15 straight years,” Sarda said. “They’re just not big fans of transparency, or using frameworks that others have developed to measure their performance.”Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos acknowledged that Amazon had work to do. “We’ve been in the middle of the herd on this issue and we want to move to the forefront,” Bezos said at a news conference in Washington where he encouraged other companies to set similar goals. “We want to be leaders.”Some corporate governance and environmental groups praised the Seattle-based company for the steps they announced on Thursday.“It’s very important when a company like Amazon or Walmart take major steps to be proactive on climate,” said Tim Smith, a director at Walden Asset Management and a longtime advocate of corporate action on issues of social responsibility. “I hope they’re getting the message that they received in the votes in the shareholders meeting, and from their customers, that they expect much of them.”Amazon’s carbon footprint reflects the company’s move from a humble online retailer into a plethora of energy-intensive businesses, including running massive cloud-computing server farms, and, increasingly, hauling its own packages by plane and truck and delivering them to customers’ doorsteps. The figures the company disclosed include emissions produced by Amazon’s own operations, the electricity that powers its facilities and more indirect sources like the cost of producing Amazon’s packaging and electronic devices, among other things.The company’s turn toward transparency on climate issues wasn’t the first time a major technology company decided to go out and grab the mantle of leadership on climate change. Apple has released an environmental impact report with increasing levels of detail for the past decade and stepped into the spotlight during in 2013 when it hired Lisa Jackson, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, as vice president for environment, policy and social initiatives.Apple started submitting investor disclosure information to the U.K. nonprofit CDP in 2014, the same year that CEO Tim Cook publicly snapped at a critic that if he didn’t like the company’s environmental policies he should “get out of this stock.”To contact the reporters on this story: Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net;Eric Roston in New York at eroston@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Alistair BarrFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Wall Street ends mixed as Microsoft, Apple offset

Apple’s Fifth Avenue Facelift Addresses Critique That It’s Hard to Shop There

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. has been renovating its iconic store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue for almost three years, and when it opens to the public on Friday customers will likely notice new aesthetics, including 20-foot trees, plant walls and skylights that bring daylight into the subterranean space. But the most popular change may well be two new entrances, subtly placed on the north and south side of the store across the street from the Plaza Hotel.Easing egress is a tacit nod to complaints that Apple’s stores had become hard to shop because they’re busy and difficult to navigate thanks to the competing needs of shoppers looking to hang out, get their gadgets fixed or actually buy something. Now locals and mission shoppers can come and go without having to deal with throngs of tourists flowing through the glass cube entrance that made the store a retail landmark and one of Apple’s busiest.The company more than doubled the size of the service area, what it calls the Genius Bar. That addresses another critique -- that getting help in an Apple store can take a long time. The renovation also almost doubled the size of the space, adding rooms where customers can test out products such as the HomePod smart speaker and small businesses can get advice on how best to kit out their offices.The Fifth Avenue location’s reopening was timed to coincide with the launch of several new products, including the iPhone 11 and Apple Watch Series 5 that debut on Friday.Earlier this year, veteran Apple executive Deirdre O’Brien replaced Angela Ahrendts as retail chief. Ahrendts, who previously ran Burberry, brought a luxury world perspective to Apple and was criticized for turning the stores into branding exercises rather than places to shop and get service. O’Brien, who also runs human resources, worked on the team that opened the first Apple store in 2001.“Deirdre has a deep understanding of the stores,” a former Apple executive told Bloomberg earlier this year. “She’s just never been the face of them.”\--With assistance from Mark Gurman.To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Townsend in New York at mtownsend9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net, Molly SchuetzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Facebook Luxottica Deal to Bring AR Glasses Mainstream

Codenamed Orion, Facebook's (FB) smart glasses are reportedly being designed to disrupt the smartphones market when it hits the shelves anywhere between 2023 and 2025.