The Norwegian government is reeling under pressure owing to oil price drop. The lower oil price is eroding revenues for the government. The Norwegian government is counting on state's dividends from Statoil ASA.
Sectors
Google: CEO Sundar Pinchai Received Equity Award Worth $199 Million in Restricted Stocks
Google CEO Sundar Pinchai received his first equity award granted by Google's parent company, Alphabet, Inc. The $199 million amount was one of the biggest ever given by a U.S. company, making him one of the world's highest-paid executives. Besides Mr. Pinchai, other executives, including Diane Greene and Ruth Porat also received the award worth $42.8 million and $38.8 million respectively.
Amplats profits dropped by an alarming 86%
Amplats revealed a shocking 86% loss in its 2015 earnings report. The world's largest metal producer is facing a grim situation of reduced capital expenditure, mine closure, employment cutbacks, and shelving of projects.
Facebook India: Facebook’s Free Limited Internet Access Program Stays Banned, Following the TRAI Decision
India’s internet regulator, the TRAI, had officially banned Facebook’s Free Basics program. The program has been banned for a few months now, but TRAI has been willing to reevaluate the terms until it came up with the decision that the program would not be allowed in the country. The Free Basics program was banned due to concerns over internet neutrality.
Eyeriss: MIT Introduced Chip Capable of Deep Learning Using AI Technology
An MIT research team has introduced a new computer chip, Eyeriss, that will allow IoT devices to go through deep learning process. Data collected by the devices, is currently uploaded to the internet for processing by power servers. Eyeriss chip processes the collected data locally using the neural technology and thus ensures data security and reduces power consumption.
Latest News
As part of reducing costs, the Japanese government is seeking lower drug prices by moving towards more generics. The ageing population and rising debt are taking a toll on the Shinzo Abe's government. The Japanese government is aiming to reduce prices of branded drugs.
GitHub is experiencing a huge inner havoc as many executives flee from the company. Chris Wanstrath has been overhauling the firm's culture backed by its board.
Peugeot suspended sales from Iran in 2012 following nuclear sanctions expansion to the automobile sector. Now that the sanctions are lifted, Peugeot immediately strives to reinstate partnership to come back to the markets that cost it 10 percent of global deliveries when the sales are suspended. It costs Peugeot $446 million in form of compensation and services.
Sony has kept its words through releasing Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact smart phones in committed date. But the US oriented version of the Z5 genre hasn’t inherited the biometric authentication system. This lacking will affect the consumers using Android 6.0 and thus shave Sony’s profit margin to some extents.
Private equity firm Silver Lake will invest $500 million in cyber security company, Symantec. The money from the investment will be used by the company to buy back shares and issue a $4 dividend to shareholders.
As per the federal agreement, HSBC has agreed to pay $470 million to provide relief to abused mortgage loan borrowers. The payment will be directed towards mainly Virginia, along with 48 other states. The bank, accused of malpractices like robosigning and bad loan designs, will now be monitored by an independent body to ensure it adheres to the revised banking standards and settlement terms.
Contrary to earlier bullish predictions for 2016, several Wall Street strategists have started lowering their forecasts on S&P 500 stocks. The Chinese economy slowdown, volatile oil prices and interest rates are the major reasons for drop in forecast. The gap between highest and lowest forecast has been widening.
Android users can experience the new system update since 2015. Some remarkable new features include security improvement, performance management, user interface, storage improvement, and support to new innovations including the Type-C USB.
China's foreign exchange reserves had declined reaching to trillions. However, the government made efforts to support the local currency from dropping further.
