May, 2019

• 4 May

  Market exerts its power over Google

  

  Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are still among the richest people in the world, but they are worth a lot less this week than they were last. The decline in their fortunes, and that of Google parent company Alphabet Inc. after a disappointing earnings report, should sound a note of caution — not just to investors, but to ...

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• 4 May

  Samsung’s secret weapon finally lost its firepower

  It was only a few years ago that the term OLED elicited excitement among consumers and investors. Organic light-emitting diodes were the hippest new display technology because they offered better screen quality while using less power. Smartphone makers were keen to preach the technology’s virtues in order to juice sales. When Apple Inc. finally joined the party in 2017, it ...

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• 4 May

  A wake-up call for the perfect economy

  Anyone who still thinks Australia’s economy is an all-conquering model of perfection is likely to get a wake-up call soon. A 28-year run of expansion has had people abroad fawning over life Down Under — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell among them. For all the superlatives, though, the local central bank considers everything far from rosy. Reserve Bank of Australia ...

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• 4 May

  The world shouldn’t help save the Belt and Road

  

  China’s second Belt and Road Forum, convened by President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week, looked less like an imperial celebration than a summit meeting. Xi’s tone had also become less triumphant. Instead, he spoke about a commitment to zero corruption. He promised to make the environment a central concern for any infrastructure projects included in his globe-spanning Belt and ...

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• 4 May

  Disappointing plans of UK’s Sainsbury

  

  If this was Mike Coupe’s manifesto for J Sainsbury Plc’s life without Walmart Inc.’s Asda, it was pretty disappointing. The Sainsbury chief executive officer promised improvements to stores and price cuts. But details were vague and it is not immediately clear that they will be enough to revive the group’s underlying sales growth, which continues to decline. Among the plans ...

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• 4 May

  TikTok could shake Silicon Valley’s free-trade spirit

  

  Silicon Valley has been a perennial champion of globalisation and free trade because of the belief that expanded access to markets would mean higher profits for American tech companies and more jobs for American workers. That love of globalisation might sour if a Chinese company becomes the next big winner. The growing popularity with American teens of the Chinese-created video ...

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• 4 May

  Robots race to unload trucks in Amazon-era

  

  Bloomberg As FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc beef up automation to keep pace with surging e-commerce and a potential threat from Amazon.com Inc, they’ve been stumped at a crucial stage: loading and unloading trucks. Robot makers are getting close to solving part of that puzzle. Siemens AG and Honeywell International Inc have built machines that pull packages from ...

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• 4 May

  SpaceX launches Falcon rocket with Dragon

  

  Bloomberg Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp launched its 17th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station for longtime customer NASA. The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule rumbled aloft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Dragon will deliver almost 5,500 pounds of science, supplies and hardware, according to NASA, and is slated to attach to ...

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• 4 May

  Drone makes its first flight guided by air jets, not flaps

  

  Bloomberg A drone developed with the backing of UK defense giant BAE Systems Plc has become the first plane since the dawn of aviation to be maneuvered without the aid of wing flaps. The Magma model is flown by blowing air from its engine at supersonic speeds through slots in the wings. The technology is lighter, more reliable and cheaper ...

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• 4 May

  Fiat CEO sees ‘significant opportunities’ for auto partnerships

  

  Bloomberg Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s CEO Mike Manley said he sees “very significant opportunities” to partner with other automakers on autonomy and electrification projects in the next two to three years. Fiat is seeking to fix a business that is losing money in Asia and Europe while sales in North America, which generates the lion’s share of the company’s profits, ...

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