BusinessBloombergChina Trucking Startup Files Confidentially for U.S. IPO
(Bloomberg) -- China’s Uber-like startup Full Truck Alliance has confidentially filed for an initial public offering that could raise at least $1 billion as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter.The startup backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. handed in its IPO filing in the U.S. recently, the people said, requesting not to be named because the matter is private. Full Truck Alliance is working with Morgan Stanley and China International Capital Corp. on its American debut after eking out a slim 2020 profit thanks to a pandemic-era shipping surge, people familiar have said.The company, known as Manbang in Chinese, was aiming to raise $1 billion to $2 billion in the IPO, people familiar said in January. A representative for Full Truck Alliance didn’t respond to an emailed request and text message seeking comment.Manbang, backed by SoftBank Group Corp., faces stiffening competition as smaller rivals try to win a slice of an evolving market. Giants from car-hailing leader Didi Chuxing Technology Co. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are now introducing technology to try and streamline the shipping process, connecting merchants with truckers and delivery firms.Formed by a merger between China’s two largest truck-sharing platforms -- Huochebang and Yunmanman -- Manbang has attracted a roster of backers including Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG, Sequoia Capital China, Fidelity International and Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital. Manbang last raised $1.7 billion from investors including SoftBank and Tencent at a $12 billion valuation. It aimed to use the cash to expand into same-city deliveries, deepening a network now focused on ferrying goods between urban centers.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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Sony to Open PlayStation 5 for Storage Upgrades in Summer
(Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. is preparing to open up its PlayStation 5 for internal storage upgrades this summer, lifting a bottleneck that prevents gamers from having more than a few marquee games on their console at one time, people briefed on the plan said.Adding support for additional drives will be enabled with a firmware update that also unlocks higher cooling-fan speeds to ensure the console doesn’t overheat, the people said, asking not to be named because the plans are not yet public. The PlayStation 5 comes with a custom solid-state drive with around 667GB available for storing games, apps and media -- at a time when the latest Call of Duty game needs 133GB of installation space and most major titles take up at least 40GB each.Sony’s latest console has a customized architecture that accelerates loading and processing times, but makes it impractical to plug in an external hard drive, the typical way gamers add storage. Such a drive can only be used for older PS4 games. After the planned firmware upgrade, players need only take a plastic cover off the PS5 and attach a new storage unit to address the current limitations.“As previously announced, we are working to enable M.2 SSD storage expansion for PlayStation 5. The timing has not been announced and details will be shared later,” a Sony spokesman said.Read more: Sony, Microsoft Consoles Struggle With Thin Launch-Day StockThe PlayStation 5 has been in high demand since its launch in November, with various supply chain and logistics issues preventing the Japanese electronics giant from delivering sufficient units. Constrained supply has also been a problem for rival Microsoft Corp., which warned its latest Xbox console generation is unlikely to see relief before June at the earliest.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
