International News

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp.’s cloud computing business fuelled quarterly sales and profit that topped analysts’ estimates, boosted by several new deals with large corporate clients. The company’s shares rose as much as 5.1 percent in New York, briefly pushing its valuation across $1 trillion before pulling back slightly. The move nosed the software maker ahead of Apple Inc. as the world’s ...

Bloomberg The shareholder rebellion at Bayer AG is poised to worsen after its supervisory board ignored an unprecedented no-confidence vote against the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann. Several top investors of the German chemicals and drugs giant are frustrated with directors’ decision to back Baumann and his strategy that led to the $63 billion takeover of Monsanto, according ...

Bloomberg Daimler AG said its financial targets have become harder to achieve after a tough start to the year, forcing the auto manufacturer to step up efforts to drive down costs. The Mercedes-Benz maker’s first-quarter profit slumped 16 percent after a decline in deliveries combined with the rising cost of developing new models. While earnings met analyst estimates, Chief Executive ...

Bloomberg Advertising giant WPP Plc reported a fall in first-quarter sales after its agencies in North America lost work with top clients, in another reminder of the challenge facing Chief Executive Officer Mark Read. Revenue less pass-through costs, WPP’s measure of organic sales growth, fell 2.8 percent, the London-based company said in a statement, in line with the average estimate ...

Bloomberg Oracle Corp. will continue to fight the terms of the Pentagon’s $10 billion winner-take-all cloud computing contract after being kicked out of the bidding process this month, according to the company’s chief lobbyist. Oracle Executive Vice President Kenneth Glueck, who leads the company’s Washington policy shop, said in an interview with Bloomberg News that the company will continue to ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump urged Japan to drop its tariffs on American agricultural products as he met PM Shinzo Abe, who for now appears to have deflected the most damaging of US demands on trade. Trump pushed for the end of the Japanese agricultural levy, while not directly mentioning past threats of sanctions on automobiles. For his part, Abe raised ...

Bloomberg Sony Corp said its operating profit will likely fall this year and pulled its financial forecasts for most divisions because of substantial uncertainty in their operations. Operating profit will be 810 billion yen ($7.3 billion) in the year ending in March 2020, down from last year’s 894 billion yen and below the 843 billion yen average of analyst estimates ...

Bloomberg Tata Steel Ltd said it has extinguished all fires at its plant in Port Talbot after reporting an incident at the mill in South Wales. The company said emergency services were assisting its workers and two employees were slightly injured when there was a spillage of liquid iron while it was travelling to the steel plant, according to posts ...

Bloomberg Thailand suffered a rare combined drop in tourist arrivals and spending in March, signalling a rocky first quarter for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. The number of visitors fell 0.7 percent from a year ago to 3.5 million, official figures and data compiled by Bloomberg show. Foreign tourism receipts slid 1.3 percent to $5.8 billion. Tourism is critical for Thailand ...

Bloomberg China Evergrande Group, a property developer that has ambitions to dominate the global electric-vehicle industry, has approached two Dutch truck-and-bus makers about possible acquisitions, according to people familiar with the matter. The group, headed by China’s third-richest man, has reached out to Paccar Inc’s DAF Trucks NV and closely held bus manufacturer V DL Groep BV, the people said, ...