• Sony (SNE) Ups the Game With Stake Purchase in Epic Games
    Zacks

    Sony (SNE) Ups the Game With Stake Purchase in Epic Games

    The transaction is important for Sony (SNE) because it needs partners in the impending console combat.

  • Here's Why Fastly's Shares Are Falling Today
    Motley Fool

    Here's Why Fastly's Shares Are Falling Today

    As of 10:51 a.m EDT, Fastly's stock was down 5.2%. Liani noted that Fastly's current valuation assumes the company will have "near-perfect execution." Today's stock downgrade comes as Fastly's share price has gained 365% over the past three months.

  • Box (BOX): Strong Industry, Solid Earnings Estimate Revisions
    Zacks

    Box (BOX): Strong Industry, Solid Earnings Estimate Revisions

    Box (BOX) has seen solid earnings estimate revision activity over the past month, and belongs to a strong industry as well.

  • Tencent in Talks to Acquire Hong Kong-Listed Gaming Firm Leyou
    Bloomberg

    Tencent in Talks to Acquire Hong Kong-Listed Gaming Firm Leyou

    (Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. is in advanced talks to take Chinese gaming firm Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd. private, edging out other potential suitors including Sony Corp. in a battle for the Hong Kong-listed company.Tencent Mobility Ltd., a wholly-owned unit of the Chinese tech giant, has entered into an exclusive agreement with Leyou for a potential privatization, Leyou said in an exchange filing on Friday. That confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.Leyou didn’t provide any financial details in the statement and said there’s no certainty an agreement will be reached. The exclusive agreement is valid for three months, it said.Trading in Leyou, which has a market value of about $1.1 billion, will resume on July 13.Leyou’s controlling shareholder Charles Yuk had been in talks with Tencent-backed iDreamSky Technology Holdings Ltd. for a majority stake sale since late last year. In May, Leyou confirmed it received another non-binding offer from Zhejiang Century Huatong Group Co., a Shenzhen-listed gaming firm that also counts Tencent as a shareholder.Tencent’s offer could resolve what had been an escalating contest for Leyou, with Sony considering joining the bidding, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.Century Huatong said on Friday, before Leyou’s announcement, that it had ended the takeover talks with the gaming firm.(Updates throughout with Leyou’s statement)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Sony Invests $250 Million in Unreal Engine Maker Epic Games
    Bloomberg

    Sony Invests $250 Million in Unreal Engine Maker Epic Games

    (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. invested $250 million in Epic Games Inc., owner of the popular video game Fortnite and the widely used Unreal Engine for game development.The PlayStation maker and Fortnite proprietor didn’t disclose the new value of the games company. Bloomberg News first reported last month that Epic was close to securing funding at a valuation of about $17 billion.The Unreal Engine is used to create many popular game franchises, such as Borderlands and Gears of War, along with Epic’s own Fortnite. The fifth iteration, Unreal Engine 5, made its debut this summer and was demonstrated on PlayStation 5 hardware, signaling the close collaboration between Epic and Sony.Sony is preparing for the introduction later this year of the PlayStation 5, its first major game console release since 2013. Epic is primarily focused on games, but Tim Sweeney, its chief executive officer, said in a statement Thursday that he shares a vision with Sony of a “convergence of gaming, film and music.”Sony’s shares were up as much as 3.2% in Tokyo on Friday, approaching a 19-year high for the company.“Tim Sweeney has a track record of being able to sense which way the wind is blowing in gaming and he is tipping his hand that it’s blowing Sony’s way,” according to Mio Kato, an analyst at LightStream Research. The Unreal Engine is also used in the making of the Netflix Inc. series “The Mandalorian,” so it “blends nicely” with Sony’s interests in TV and movie production as well as gaming, Kato wrote in a note on Smartkarma.Fortnite has been an influential force in games and culture over the last few years. The game had more than 350 million players as of April, benefiting from the influx of people spending more time at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Quarantine has also been a boon for Houseparty, another Epic property, which allows people to chat over video and play games with their friends. Some 50 million users signed up to use the app in March and April.Read more: Fortnite, Rappers and the Billion-Dollar Pandemic Gaming Boom(Updates with Sony share price and Unreal Engine details from third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • SoftBank-Backed Coupang Buys Hooq Assets to Take on Netflix
    Bloomberg

    SoftBank-Backed Coupang Buys Hooq Assets to Take on Netflix

    (Bloomberg) -- South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Corp. is buying the software of Hooq Digital Ltd., the Southeast Asian video streaming service owned by Singtel, Sony and Warner Bros that’s filed for liquidation, according to people familiar with the deal.Coupang has already struck a deal to acquire the assets, the people said, asking not to be named because the information hasn’t been announced.The deal ushers SoftBank-backed Coupang into a competitive but fragmented video streaming arena and pits it against the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. U.S. giants have emerged as frontrunners, squeezing out a number of domestic players with splashier local programming and fuller Hollywood slates. In a sign of accelerating consolidation, Tencent Holdings Ltd. recently agreed to buy the assets of Malaysian streaming platform iFlix Ltd. And last month, ride-hailing giant Gojek won funding from Golden Gate Ventures and other backers for its own video foray.Coupang, backed also by BlackRock Inc. and Sequoia Capital, has designs too on its own home market. Korea in recent years birthed blockbusters that captivated global audiences from “Parasite” to “Train to Busan,” yet Netflix and Alphabet Inc.’s Youtube remain dominant local players. South Korea’s government announced a plan last month to nurture five homegrown over-the-top or streaming service providers into global companies, and support their growth by expediting deals and investment in content.A Coupang representative declined to comment.Read more: Tencent Buys Assets of Struggling Streaming Platform IFlixHooq, a joint venture between Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Sony Pictures Television Inc. and Warner Bros Entertainment Inc., filed for liquidation in March and discontinued service at the end of April. Set up in 2015, it offered movies and drama series across Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and India, but ran into trouble during the pandemic.Coupang, widely regarded as South Korea’s Amazon, has been aggressively expanding into new businesses such as food delivery and digital payments, mirroring the U.S. giant by broadening its services. The Seoul-based company, founded in 2010 by Chief Executive Officer Bom Kim, was said to be valued at $9 billion in late 2018 and has been eyeing a public listing as early as next year, Bloomberg News reported in January.Buoyed by the growth in subscribers to its delivery service, sales at the startup rose to a record 7.15 trillion won ($5.9 billion) in 2019.Read more: Coupang Grew Revenue 64% in Boost For SoftBank’s Startup Cred(Updates with details on Asian market from the third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Anaplan (PLAN) Stock Moves -0.29%: What You Should Know
    Zacks

    Anaplan (PLAN) Stock Moves -0.29%: What You Should Know

    Anaplan (PLAN) closed at $51.18 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.29% move from the prior day.

  • Datadog (DDOG) Stock Moves -0.03%: What You Should Know
    Zacks

    Datadog (DDOG) Stock Moves -0.03%: What You Should Know

    Datadog (DDOG) closed at $96.10 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.03% move from the prior day.

  • Why Fastly Stock Jumped Thursday, Soaring Past $100
    Motley Fool

    Why Fastly Stock Jumped Thursday, Soaring Past $100

    The stock rose nearly 7% as of 3:10 EDT. The stock's move higher was likely primarily fueled by momentum. Investors have shown an incredible appetite for Fastly stock since the company reported first-quarter results that blew away expectations.

  • Sony Invests In Epic Games, Creators of Fortnite
    Motley Fool

    Sony Invests In Epic Games, Creators of Fortnite

    Fortnite-maker Epic Games has not conducted an IPO -- and it may never do so. Tencent Holdings' (OTC: TCEHY) 40% stake in Epic -- acquired back in 2012 when Epic was a much smaller company -- remains much larger than what Sony will get.

  • Is Fastly (FSLY) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year?
    Zacks

    Is Fastly (FSLY) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year?

    Is (FSLY) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year?

  • Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Is In A Strong Position To Grow Its Business
    Simply Wall St.

    Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Is In A Strong Position To Grow Its Business

    We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, although...

  • Wipro Limited to Announce Results for the First Quarter Ended June 30, 2020 on July 14, 2020
    Business Wire

    Wipro Limited to Announce Results for the First Quarter Ended June 30, 2020 on July 14, 2020

    Wipro Limited will announce results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2020 on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.

  • Why Stamps.com Stock Skyrocketed 120% in the First Half of 2020
    Motley Fool

    Why Stamps.com Stock Skyrocketed 120% in the First Half of 2020

    Shares of online postage seller Stamps.com (NASDAQ: STMP) soared 120% in the first half of 2020, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. In 2020, Stamps.com stock is up 145% through July 8, compared with the broader market's negative 1% return so far this year. The chart below shows the stock's surges after the company reported Q4 2019 results on Feb. 19 and Q1 2020 results on May 7.

  • Fastly to Announce Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results
    Business Wire

    Fastly to Announce Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results

    Fastly will release financial results for the second quarter of 2020 after market close on Wednesday, August 5, 2020.

  • Business Wire

    OneConnect Company Gains a Foothold in Hainan Free Trade Port

    OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. ("OneConnect" or the "Company") (NYSE: OCFT) has signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Hainan Local Financial Supervision Administration to develop smart financial and smart supervision services in the island province of Hainan, as well as the financial sector in Hainan Free Trade Port.

  • UMC Reports Sales for June 2020
    Business Wire

    UMC Reports Sales for June 2020

    United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), today reported unaudited net sales for the month of June 2020.

  • OneConnect Company Selected for the 2020 CB Insights China Fintech 50 List
    Business Wire

    OneConnect Company Selected for the 2020 CB Insights China Fintech 50 List

    OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. ("OneConnect Company" or the "Company") (NYSE: OCFT), was selected on June 29 for the 2020 CB Insights China Fintech 50 List, which recognizes the best fintech enterprises in China.

  • Ping Identity Announces Upsize and Pricing of Follow-on Offering of Common Stock by Selling Shareholders
    Business Wire

    Ping Identity Announces Upsize and Pricing of Follow-on Offering of Common Stock by Selling Shareholders

    Ping Identity Holding Corp. (NYSE: PING) ("Ping Identity"), the Intelligent Identity solution for the enterprise, today announced the upsize and pricing of a public follow-on offering of 8,977,968 shares of its common stock by certain selling shareholders at $32.00 per share. Certain of the selling shareholders have also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,346,695 shares of common stock on the same terms and conditions. The offering was upsized from the previously announced offering size of 7,500,000 shares of Ping Identity’s common stock. This offering will not dilute ownership of any existing investors. Ping Identity will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling shareholders, and will not issue any shares of its common stock in the offering. The offering is expected to close on July 13, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

  • Bloomberg

    Power Pioneer Invents New Battery That’s 90% Cheaper Than Lithium-Ion

    (Bloomberg) -- Lithium-ion batteries play a central role in the world of technology, powering everything from smartphones to smart cars, and one of the people who helped commercialize them says he has a way to cut mass production costs by 90% and significantly improve their safety.Hideaki Horie, formerly of Nissan Motor Co., founded Tokyo-based APB Corp. in 2018 to make “all-polymer batteries” -- hence the company name. Earlier this year the company received backing from a group of Japanese firms that includes general contractor Obayashi Corp., industrial equipment manufacturer Yokogawa Electric Corp. and carbon fiber maker Teijin Ltd.“The problem with making lithium batteries now is that it’s device manufacturing like semiconductors,” Horie said in an interview. “Our goal is to make it more like steel production.”The making of a cell, every battery’s basic unit, is a complicated process requiring cleanroom conditions -- with airlocks to control moisture, constant air filtering and exacting precision to prevent contamination of highly reactive materials. The setup can be so expensive that a handful of top players like South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd., China’s CATL and Japan’s Panasonic Corp. spend billions of dollars to build a suitable factory.Horie’s innovation is to replace the battery’s basic components -- metal-lined electrodes and liquid electrolytes -- with a resin construction. He says this approach dramatically simplifies and speeds up manufacturing, making it as easy as “buttering toast.” It allows for 10-meter-long battery sheets that can be stacked on top of each other “like seat cushions” to increase capacity, he said. Importantly, the resin-based batteries are also resistant to catching fire when punctured.In March, APB raised 8 billion yen ($74 million), which is tiny by the wider industry’s standards but will be enough to fully equip one factory for mass production slated to start next year. Horie estimates the funds will get his plant in central Japan to 1 gigawatt-hour capacity by 2023.Lithium-ion batteries have come a long way since they were first commercialized almost three decades ago. They last longer, pack more power and cost 85% less than they did 10 years ago, serving as the quiet workhorse driving the growth of smartphones and tablets with ever more powerful internals. But safety remains an issue and batteries have been the cause of fires in everything from Tesla Inc.’s cars to Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner jets and Samsung Electronics Co.’s smartphones.“Just from the standpoint of physics, the lithium-ion battery is the best heater humanity has ever created,” Horie said.In a traditional battery, a puncture can create a surge measuring hundreds of amperes, several times the current of electricity delivered to an average home. Temperatures can then shoot up to 700 degrees Celsius. APB’s battery avoids such cataclysmic conditions by using a so-called bipolar design, doing away with present-day power bottlenecks and allowing the entire surface of the battery to absorb surges.“Because of the many incidents, safety has been at the top of mind in the industry,” said Mitalee Gupta, senior analyst for energy storage at Wood Mackenzie. “This could be a breakthrough for both storage and electric vehicle applications, provided that the company is able to scale up pretty quickly.”But the technology is not without its shortcomings. Polymers are not as conductive as metal and this could significantly impact the battery’s carrying capacity, according to Menahem Anderman, president of California-based Total Battery Consulting Inc. One drawback of the bipolar design is that cells are connected back-to-back in a series, making control of individual ones difficult, Anderman said. He also questioned whether the cost savings will be sufficient to compete with the incumbents.“Capital is not killing the cost of a lithium-ion battery,” Anderman said. “Lithium-ion with liquid electrolyte will remain the main application for another 15 years or more. It’s not perfect and it isn’t cheap, but beyond lithium-ion is a better lithium ion.”Horie acknowledges that APB can’t compete with battery giants who are already benefiting from economies of scale after investing billions. Instead of targeting the “red ocean” of the automotive sector, APB will first focus on stationary batteries used in buildings, offices and power plants.That market will be worth $100 billion by 2025 worldwide, more than five times its size last year, according to estimates by Wood Mackenzie. The U.S. alone -- which together with China will be the main source of increased energy storage demand -- is likely to see a 10-fold increase to $7 billion in the period.Horie, 63, got his start with lithium-ion batteries at their very beginning. In February 1990, early on in his Nissan career, he started the automaker’s nascent research into electric and hybrid vehicles. A few weeks later, Sony Corp. shocked the industry, which was betting on nickel-hydride technology, by announcing plans to commercialize a lithium-ion alternative. Horie says he immediately saw the promise and pushed for the two companies to combine research efforts that same year.By 2000, however, Nissan was giving up on its battery business, having just been rescued by Renault SA. Horie had one shot at convincing his new boss Carlos Ghosn that electric vehicles were worth it. After a 28-minute presentation, a visibly excited Ghosn proclaimed Horie’s work an important investment and green-lit the project. Nissan’s Leaf would go on to become the best-selling EV for a decade.Horie came up with the idea for the all-polymer battery while still at Nissan but wasn’t able to get institutional backing to make it real. In 2012, while doing a teaching stint at the University of Tokyo, he was approached by Sanyo Chemical Industries Ltd., known for its superabsorbent materials used in diapers. Together, the two developed the world’s first battery using a conductive gel polymer. In 2018, Horie founded APB and Sanyo Chemical became one of his early investors.APB has already lined up its first customer, a large Japanese company whose niche and high-value-added products sell mostly overseas, Horie said. He declined to give further details and said APB plans to make the announcement as early as August.“This will be the proof that our batteries can be mass-produced,” Horie said. “Battery makers have become assemblers. We are putting chemistry back into the lead role.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Here's How Atlassian Stock Gained 50% in the First Half of 2020
    Motley Fool

    Here's How Atlassian Stock Gained 50% in the First Half of 2020

    The cloud-based collaboration and project management specialist was already on a roll when the coronavirus pandemic arrived with even more rocket fuel.

  • Slack co-founder: We will be more aggressive with acquisitions
    Yahoo Finance

    Slack co-founder: We will be more aggressive with acquisitions

    Yahoo Finance catches up quickly with Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield in the wake of the company announcing its sixth-ever acquisition.

  • Google, Amazon Funnel Money to Virus Conspiracy Sites: Study
    Bloomberg

    Google, Amazon Funnel Money to Virus Conspiracy Sites: Study

    (Bloomberg) -- Digital advertising platforms run by Google, Amazon.com Inc. and other tech companies will funnel at least $25 million to websites spreading misinformation about Covid-19 this year, according to a study released Wednesday.Google’s platforms will provide $19 million, or $3 out of every $4 that the misinformation sites get in ad revenue. OpenX, a smaller digital ad distributor, handles about 10% of the money, while Amazon’s technology delivers roughly $1.7 million, or 7%, of the digital marketing spending these sites will receive, according to a research group called the Global Disinformation Index.GDI made the estimates in a study that analyzed ads running between January and June on 480 English language websites identified as publishers of virus misinformation. Some of the ads were for brands including cosmetics giant L’Oreal SA, furniture website Wayfair Inc. and imaging technology company Canon Inc. The data exclude social-media and online-video services, so the true total is likely much higher.“This report is flawed in that it neither defines what should be considered disinformation nor are its revenue calculations transparent or realistic,” a Google spokesperson said.The company doesn’t check whether websites are publishing truthful or accurate information before running ads. However, the internet giant reviewed 10 articles highlighted by the study where Google ads ran. It demonetized five of the web pages, meaning it removed the ability to make money from ads. “Google has strict publisher policies designed to prevent harmful, dangerous and fraudulent content from monetizing. We also continue to take an aggressive approach to COVID-19 content that makes harmful medical claims contradicting the guidance of global health authorities,” the spokesperson added. Amazon did not respond to requests for comment. Governments and health officials are still learning more about the virus, and this has allowed misinformation to flourish online. Silicon Valley giants have pledged to crack down, and Alphabet Inc.’s Google has removed ads from sites that violate its policies. However, GDI thinks these platforms need to do more to limit the spread of misinformation.“The difference between what the companies say publicly about their dedication to not monetizing hate speech and harmful content, especially around the pandemic, is not matching up with what our data is telling us that’s actually happening,” said Danny Rogers, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index.In an ad delivered on May 19 by Amazon, a L’Oreal product was promoted on Americanthinker.com next to an article titled “Is Big Pharma Suppressing Hydroxychloroquine?” Earlier this month, Google served up a Bloomberg News ad on the website Bigleaguepolitics.com, according to the GDI report.The Global Disinformation Index is a U.K.-based research group that provides disinformation risk ratings on media sites all over the world. GDI said it presented Google, Amazon and OpenX with the latest findings from its report and none of the tech companies provided a formal response. The group updates its research weekly and often tells tech companies when their platforms place ads on misinformation sites.The research group releases this information, in part, as a way to alert advertisers when their marketing spots show up on this kind of website. These brands can help by pulling ads from tech platforms when they see issues like this, Rogers said.(Updates with no comment from Amazon in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • These 3 Tech Stocks Are Absurdly Overvalued Right Now
    Motley Fool

    These 3 Tech Stocks Are Absurdly Overvalued Right Now

    Over the last few decades, the tech industry has remained on the cutting edge, bringing new and innovative technologies to society. This has generated heavy demand in the market for some tech stocks. Consequently, some tech names have risen to absurd valuations.

  • TheStreet.com

    Fastly Receives Multiple Downgrades on Hefty Valuation

    Fastly's price-to-sales ratio totals a stratospheric 45.25, and its price-to-book ratio is an astronomical 41.4, according to Morningstar.

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