January, 2020

• 18 January

  Xerox can’t copy same offer for HP

  

  Xerox Holdings Corp. is best known for inventing the modern photocopier. When it comes to the company’s $33 billion attempt to acquire HP Inc., Chief Executive Officer John Visentin needs to do more than simply copy and repeat the same terms. It has been almost two months since larger rival HP rejected Xerox’s initial bid. Since then, little in the ...

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• 18 January

  Verizon, breaker of the cable bundle? Not really

  

  The good news is, someday soon “triple play” will mean something only to baseball fans. These days, though, cable-TV customers probably still know it better as the industry’s torture device. Triple-play bundles refer to long-term contracts with a company such as Comcast Corp. or Charter Communications Inc. that provide internet, television and landline-phone service for one “discounted” rate. These packages ...

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• 18 January

  It’s like Uber, only for election campaigns

  A big story in Silicon Valley last year was late-stage growth companies learning that public markets no longer had an appetite for startups that were growing quickly but whose future profitability was dubious. For examples, look no further than the disappointing market debuts for companies such as Uber and Lyft and the withdrawn initial public offering of WeWork. Although that ...

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• 18 January

  Another thing Carlos Ghosn doesn’t want to talk about

  

  What was going on at Nissan Motor Co. for the last two decades? With all his complaints about Nissan subordinates and the “depth of deprivation” he endured at the hands of the Japanese justice system, Carlos Ghosn didn’t really answer that at a news conference where he portrayed himself as a victim of human-rights abuses. Ghosn didn’t want to talk ...

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• 18 January

  Boeing CEO doesn’t need a bonus to fix ailing 737 Max

  

  Boeing Co.’s new CEO shouldn’t need an extra wheelbarrow of money to do his job. David Calhoun officially took over the top role following the December ouster of Dennis Muilenburg over his ham-handed management of the crisis engulfing the 737 Max. With the plane having now been grounded for 10 months in the wake of two fatal crashes, Boeing decided ...

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• 18 January

  Horrid holidays can’t all be blamed on Brexit

  

  Christmas 2019 should be consigned to the dustbin along with the crumpled wrapping paper and the wilted tree. That’s the message that has come in loud and clear from British retailers. And it caps off a miserable year. Total sales for 2019 fell by 0.1%, the worst year on record, according to the British Retail Consortium and KPMG. There’s no ...

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• 18 January

  Toyota makes new $394mn bet on flying taxis

  

  Toyota Motor is making a $394 million investment in Joby Aviation, one of the handful of companies with the seemingly implausible goal of making electric air taxis that shuttle people over gridlocked highways and city streets. Toyota is the lead investor in Joby’s $590 million Series C funding, alongside Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx and prior backers Intel Capital, Capricorn ...

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• 18 January

  Apple acquires AI firm Xnor.ai

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc acquired Seattle-based artificial intelligence (AI) company Xnor.ai, bringing on more talent in a key area of technology. The company, founded in 2016, had raised millions of dollars to build tools that help AI algorithms run on devices rather than remote data centres. In recent years, Apple has pushed to run this type of software on its devices ...

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• 18 January

  Smart speakers likely to come under new scrutiny in UK

  

  Bloomberg Smart speakers such as those made by Amazon.com Inc are to come under new scrutiny by the UK government when it publishes the results of a consultation into the security features of connected consumer devices. UK digital secretary Nicky Morgan said the results of the public inquiry, which concluded in June, will be released within the next “month or ...

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• 18 January

  New software flaw may further delay 737 Max

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co has identified a new software flaw in the grounded 737 Max that will require additional work, possibly further delaying the plane’s return to service. The company alerted the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is notifying customers and its suppliers, it said in an emailed statement. Boeing’s best-selling jet was grounded on March 13 after two fatal ...

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