The $6.5-bn acquisition offer to Asciano Ltd by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is landed in trouble as the Australian regulator seeks an extensive review following the concern raised by the country's competition watchdog citing the reason that the Canadian firm's deal could lessen competition in rail haulage. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has postponed its decision on the acquisition offer made by Brookfield till 17 December.
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Bank of America posts profit for 4 quarters in a row
Distancing from the impact of financial crisis, Bank of America (BoA) has posted positive numbers for the third quarter making its fourth consecutive quarter with profits. The Charlotte-based bank posted a net profit of $4.07bn for the third quarter. Despite its pedestrian performance in the third quarter ending September 2015, the bank has been able to post profits for the last four quarters. This is considered to be encouraging for the shareholders of $2.2trillion bank. The North America's second largest bank by assets suffered a drop of 2.5 percent in revenues owing lower interest rates. This resulted in 6.9 percent drop in net interest income.
What can be expected on Google Play Store's newest update?
Google Play will get a major upgrade soon according to a teaser released by a Googler, Kirill Grouchnikov. Based on the teaser, the apps store will feature a better categorization method and will become a lot more user-friendly as Google is planning to cope with the increasing number of new users using the apps store.
KickStarter bans laser-powered razor campaign for lack of working prototype
Kickstarter, the popular online crowdfunding platform, has just banned a project for its failure to provide evidence of a working prototype. The project was for a laser-powered razor called Skarp which has raised over $4 million in crowdfunding since it was first announced.
Stock market volatility forces Albertsons to delay IPO
Just a couple of hours after CNBC released Albertsons Companies' intent of rescheduling their IPO due to market volatility, the news website has now made another recent update detailing Albertsons' plans on conducting their IPO before Thanksgiving.
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Many iPhone users are surprised when they could not access Apple News app in mainland China when they were able to use it in many places around the world. Granted that the said app is being tested in the United Kingdom and Australia, still the app is prevented by Chinese censorship from being activated.
A San Francisco-based payment startup, Square Inc. had filed to go public on Wednesday and according to its regulatory filing, the company will offer around $275 million in stock. The company which is run by Twitter Inc. co-founder, Jack Dorsey is currently valued at a total $6 billion in valuation.
AltaGas Ltd has put its investment plan of C$600 million ($464mn) on hold over an ongoing dispute over the tax on imported equipment. AltaGas has drawn a plan to export Liquefied Natural gas (LNG), but couldn't take it forward as it's involved over a tax dispute with the government. AltaGas is optimistic that the dispute will be resolved shortly and expected to take the project off in November.
Anheuser-Busch InBev's plan to acquire SABMiller Plc is expected to change the business dynamics in the global beer industry. Anheuser-Busch InBev is a multinational beverage and brewing company's takeover is considered to be the largest one this year and fourth largest takeover in the corporate history. Anheuser-Busch InBev is acquiring SABMiller for $104.2 billion.
Wal-Mart's stock tumbled on the Wall Street following the forecast of earnings drop in the range of 6-12 percent hammered down the market sentiment. Wal-Mart shares fell 10.04 percent or $6.70 to $60.03 indicating biggest fall in a day during the past three decades. The stock was already trading 22 percent lower before the latest drop. Gearing up to compete with Amazon, Wal-Mart Stores Inc hiked investment in internet technology and raised wages. The earnings are expected to be flat for the current fiscal year and one or two percent lower than the previous forecast. The third quarter results from Wal-Mart are scheduled on 17 November.
Netflix reported a lower than expected performance today after the company reported a total revenue of $1.74 billion for its third quarter performance. The revenue contributes to earnings of $0.07 per share, which is lower than analyst expectation of $0.08 per share.
Payments startup Square, e-Commerce organization run by new Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, is going for an initial public offer (IPO) and mentions in the filing to Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that the fraud could be a major hurdle for it. Square was target of hacking as a single seller used its payment services resulting in a huge loss of $5.7mn for the e-Commerce startup. The automated global payment system and the liquidity of Square were the major reasons why it was the target for illegal or improper use.
A Russian researcher nicknamed Dark Purple launched a new version of computer killer: USB Killer version 2.0. The first version of USB Killer was announced on March 2015. Instead of storing data, 'killer USB' causes serious damage on a laptop or computer.
UK alcoholic beverage giant Diageo Plc is planning to offload its wine operations across the US and the UK for $552mn (euro483mn) to Treasury Wine Estate, an Australia-based company. Treasury Wine Estate is also in the process of acquiring Blossom Hill, Britain's second largest wine brand. The acquisition deal for Diageo is subject to the approval of UK regulator and also the US anti-trust review. The acquisition deal is expected to be completed in next three months.
