Bloomberg Tata Steel Ltd is weighing a sale of its stake in an e-commerce joint venture as India’s largest steel manufacturer looks to offload non-core assets to pare debt, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company is working with advisers on a potential sale of its 50 percent stake in mjunction Services Ltd, an online marketplace for commodities ...
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India’s Patanjali ratings downgraded
Bloomberg An Indian credit ratings company cut Patanjali Ayurved by two levels, citing a likely weakening of its financial position as it partly funds a merger with a maker of soya products. Care Ratings downgraded Patanjali’s long-term bank facilities to A- from A+, according to a statement. Care and Brickwork Ratings cut the company’s outlook to negative from stable. Patanjali ...
Read More »US tech giants turn to India for new apps before world release
Bloomberg India is emerging as the testing and acquisition playground for global consumer technology companies, especially the so-called FAANGs, according to a veteran internet analyst. RBC Capital Markets’ Mark Mahaney, who calls himself Wall Street’s “oldest internet analyst†after covering the sector for more than two decades, said India is now more popular than markets like China because it has ...
Read More »Sony slashes price of PlayStation Now video game service in half
Bloomberg Sony Corp cut the price of its PlayStation Now video-game service in half, to $9.99 a month, a reflection of the increasing competition in online offerings. The industry leader in video games said it’s also adding limited runs of top-selling titles to the service, such as Take-Two Interactive Software Inc’s Grand Theft Auto V, and launching the first global ...
Read More »China soy-buying may signal prudence before US talks
Bloomberg Chinese firms have been snapping up US soybeans, but don’t mistake this as a sign of buyer confidence in upcoming trade talks. The companies, which received a fresh 2 million-ton quota from Beijing to import American beans free of retaliatory tariffs, have been seeking soy every day so far. That’s likely because they want to rush through orders in ...
Read More »Pompeo starts European visit with focus on looming tariffs
Bloomberg Secretary of State Michael Pompeo kicked off a visit to Europe with talks that focussed on Italian concerns at the prospect of new US tariffs, just as the top American diplomat was drawn deeper into an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Pompeo met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at his official residence in Rome, on the first ...
Read More »BMW beats Mercedes by 34 cars in US race
Bloomberg BMW AG’s namesake brand was neck-and-neck with its German rival in the US last month, edging Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz by a mere 34 cars and keeping the race for sales bragging rights close into the final stretch. BMW posted a 6 percent gain in September, delivering to 27,467 cars and sport utility vehicles. The 3 Series sedan was up ...
Read More »France to harvest Facebook data to catch tax fraudsters
Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to give tax authorities the power to harvest data from Facebook, Instagram and other social media to help detect fraud. The government wants parliament to include an article in the 2020 budget law granting the new powers to officials from the tax and customs administrations. The state will also screen online market places ...
Read More »Google faces iPhone privacy suit after court reinstates case in UK
Bloomberg A UK lawsuit filed against Google by millions of iPhone users over data-collection claims was given the go-ahead by London appeals judges who overturned an earlier ruling that had thrown out the case. The group, known as Google You Owe Us, were seeking as much as $3.9 billion, according to documents filed with the court last year. The organisation, ...
Read More »Ford cedes control in India after struggling to make inroads
Bloomberg Ford Motor Co agreed to move most of its assets in India into a joint venture with a local partner after struggling for more than two decades to win over buyers in the world’s fourth-largest auto market. The deal effectively ends Ford’s independent operations in a country it wanted to become one of its top three markets by 2020. ...
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