Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s latest iPhones are selling at discounts of more than $100 in China, an unusually steep price cut just months after launch that suggests dwindling demand for even its highest-end devices. JD.com Inc. and state carrier China Mobile Ltd. are among the retailers taking 800 yuan ($118) off the iPhone 14 Pro range over 11 days. Retailers ...
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Alibaba’s Daraz fires 11% of staff
Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Daraz group is cutting 11% of jobs to weather a slump in online commerce, joining a growing roster of tech names retrenching to weather a global downturn. The Pakistani company, which Alibaba acquired from Rocket Internet in 2018, has quintupled active shoppers to more than 15 million over the past five years. But in ...
Read More »London house prices flatline in worst performance since 2019
Bloomberg London house prices flatlined, recording their worst performance in more than three years, one of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders said. The cost of an average home in the capital hit £530,396 ($637,720) in January, unchanged from a year earlier, according to Halifax. This was the slowest rate of growth since November 2019, when prices fell by 1% ...
Read More »Apollo in talks for stake in Credit Suisse First Boston, says WSJ
Bloomberg Apollo Global Management Inc. is among investors showing interest in taking a stake in Credit Suisse Group AG’s new investment bank unit, as the lender continues to seek investors to help fund its spin-out, the Wall Street Journal reported. Talks with Apollo are continuing and could still fall apart, the paper reported, without giving further details. Bloomberg reported ...
Read More »UK postal strike called off on Royal Mail legal challenge
Bloomberg Britain’s postal workers won’t be going on strike this month after Royal Mail challenged a walkout planned for later this month. The Communication Workers’ Union, which represents over 100,000 post-delivery staff, said Monday that it called off strikes for Feb. 16-17 because it believed a new ballot for further industrial action could be affected if it lost a ...
Read More »Vanguard eyes bigger slice of Australia’s $2.3 trillion pensions
Bloomberg Vanguard Group Inc. is accelerating its push into Australia’s A$3.3 trillion ($2.3 trillion) pensions market just months after launching its debut fund in the fiercely competitive sector. The US behemoth plans to offer a retirement investment product in the country by mid-year at the earliest, Australian head Daniel Shrimski said in an interview. Vanguard unveiled its debut Australian ...
Read More »KKR passes $500b in assets despite headwinds
Bloomberg KKR & Co. passed $500 billion in assets under management during the fourth quarter even as earnings fell 41% on sluggish asset sales. The New York-based firm raised $16 billion of new capital in the quarter to reach $504 billion in AUM, it said in a statement. Distributable earnings fell to $822 million, or 92 cents a share, ...
Read More »A clear target emerges in tech layoffs: Middle managers
Bloomberg As Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc. and other Silicon Valley behemoths look to lighten payrolls after years of feverish hiring, a clear target has emerged: the middle manager. Meta will be cutting some layers of management, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said on the company’s earnings call Wednesday, naming 2023 its “Year of Efficiency.†The company let go ...
Read More »Macron in Scholz’s shadow as Ukraine pressures mount
Bloomberg Days before German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would ship 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron surprised allies by declaring that France would contribute 18 Caesar cannons and 40 AMX10 armored vehicles, and teased that he was still considering whether to send the embattled country a squadron of more powerful Leclerc tanks. The move ...
Read More »UK prime minister Sunak plans to reshuffle cabinet after rocky start
Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to carry out a mini reshuffle of his cabinet in an effort to re-set his premiership after a rocky first 100 days in office, according to people familiar with the discussions. Sunak will appoint a new Conservative Party chair, after he sacked Nadhim Zahawi over a tax scandal more than a week ago, ...
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