Yahoo Inc. is proceeding with the spinoff of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba even without guarantee that it won't be taxed. In a regulatory filing, Yahoo says its board has authorized the transaction despite lacking an approval from the Internal Revenue Service. On news of the decision, Yahoo's shares rose Monday by as much as 4% in extended trading.
United States
Chesapeake Energy Laid off workers, oil price as main reason
Oklahoma-based energy company, Chesapeake Energy Corp said it had laid off about 15 percent of its employees and citing the low oil price and gas as the main reason for the move. The second-largest natural gas company in the U.S had laid off 740 workers on Tuesday so far.
Alibaba Group Holding stock drops for 4 months now
Chinese e-Commerce major Alibaba Group Holding's stock (NYSE: BABA) continued to ease on Wall Street for the fourth consecutive month following the reduction in revenue forecast for the next quarter of the year. Alibaba shares fell 13 percent in September and this continuous skid since May brought down the market value to $75billion. The economy sluggishness is impacting the e-commerce sales. Of late, Alibaba Group is facing cut-throat competition in online sales. Analysts hold the view that lot of uncertainty in store for Alibaba Group in the days to come.
ComScore to buy Rentrak for $771mn
ComScore Inc, a data analytics provider and a major player in web tracking, will acquire Rentrak Corp for an implied value of $771 in all stock deal. Rentrak offers viewership rating services. As part of the buying deal, every share of Rentrak will be converted into 1.15 shares of ComScore. After the buying process, Rentrak will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ComScore. The combined entity is expected to become a major measurement system for media and advertisement agencies. The buyout deal is expected to close in early 2016. The combined entity will get cost benefit of $55mn over the next two years.
Evernote cuts down 47 jobs, closes three global offices
Evernote Corporation had layoff 47 of its workers and closes three of its global offices. Reports confirmed affected locations were in Moscow, Singapore and Taiwan. Evernote CEO Chris O'Neill wrote in the company blog on Tuesday that Evernote had reduced 47 jobs. The company shuts down operation in three offices as well. "Today we let go of 47 people from the Evernote team and announced the closure of three of our global offices. We are grateful for the immense contributions of each and every affected person."
Latest News
Sony's PlayStation is in the top three as the most intimate brands for millennials based on the research done by MBLM. The report will be released on October 6.
Castro knocks out U.S. trade embargo at UN. The Cuban President, Raul Castro spoke Saturday for the first time at the United Nations and salute renewed diplomatic ties with the U.S. as "major progress". However, he knocks out a US trade embargo as the number one hindrance to Cuba's economic development, as reported by MSN News.
Chicago-based start-up lender Avant Inc has mobilized $325millions in its latest round of funding from a private equity (PE) firm General Atlantic and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Balyasny Asset Management and Tiger Global Management LLC are also investing in the round taking total fund-raising for Avant to $659mn till date. General Atlantic-led round is expected to close in October. With this fund-raising, the valuation of Avant is pegged at $1billion. The start-up firm is planning to use the mobilized funds to offer various financial products and fund its global expansion plan.
As part of its debt reduction exercise, the world's largest bullion producer Barrick Gold Corp has offered to buy back some part of its outstanding debt. Despite the drop in gold prices, The Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp has been selling assets.
Comcast Corp. is getting a 51% stake in Universal Studios Japan Co. The US cable company has announced its NBCUniversal unit will pay Goldman Sachs and other owners of USJ Co. $1.5 billion for the majority stake.
Amazon just unveiled their latest gadget, the Amazon Fire HD 10. It is the widest tablet offered by Jeff Bezos's company and it comes with a price tag far cheaper than any other high-end tablet by another manufacturer at $229.
Shrugging from the recent market crash, Nike and Under Armour stocks have emerged as major gainers on the Wall Street. Though these two companies are battle to capture higher market share in sportswear and star endorsements, but the athletic apparel makers are racing ahead in improving their financial performance.
As part of its new strategy, Microsoft Corporation will announce quarterly results under the three new headers based on operating a segment-wise business. The global software major has devised a rearranging system for financial results by restructuring business into three operating segments.
NASA is gearing up the Orion heat shield for its first space mission, the EM-1, in 2018. The new heat shield must survive extreme temperatures upon its travel to space.
