• Tencent in Talks to Acquire Hong Kong-Listed Gaming Firm Leyou
    Bloomberg

    Tencent in Talks to Acquire Hong Kong-Listed Gaming Firm Leyou

    (Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. is in advanced talks to take Chinese gaming firm Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd. private, edging out other potential suitors including Sony Corp. in a battle for the Hong Kong-listed company.Tencent Mobility Ltd., a wholly-owned unit of the Chinese tech giant, has entered into an exclusive agreement with Leyou for a potential privatization, Leyou said in an exchange filing on Friday. That confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.Leyou didn’t provide any financial details in the statement and said there’s no certainty an agreement will be reached. The exclusive agreement is valid for three months, it said.Trading in Leyou, which has a market value of about $1.1 billion, will resume on July 13.Leyou’s controlling shareholder Charles Yuk had been in talks with Tencent-backed iDreamSky Technology Holdings Ltd. for a majority stake sale since late last year. In May, Leyou confirmed it received another non-binding offer from Zhejiang Century Huatong Group Co., a Shenzhen-listed gaming firm that also counts Tencent as a shareholder.Tencent’s offer could resolve what had been an escalating contest for Leyou, with Sony considering joining the bidding, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.Century Huatong said on Friday, before Leyou’s announcement, that it had ended the takeover talks with the gaming firm.(Updates throughout with Leyou’s statement)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Reuters

    Nikkei hits 1-week low on COVID-19 concerns, corporate earnings

    Japanese shares closed at a one-week low on Friday as a spike in fresh COVID-19 cases at home and abroad fuelled concerns that the path to economic recovery could be hindered, while the market braced for further corporate earnings pain. More than 60,500 new COVID-19 infections were reported across the United States on Thursday, the largest single-day tally record, stoking fears that new lockdowns could take a toll on the economic recovery. Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo, said investors also awaited earnings report from Yaskawa Electric Corp due later in the day.

  • Reuters

    Japanese shares fall on virus concerns, corporate earnings

    Japanese shares fell on Friday as a spike in fresh coronavirus cases at home and abroad fuelled concerns that the path to economic recovery could be hindered, while the market braced for corporate earnings pain. More than 60,500 new COVID-19 infections were reported across the United States on Thursday, the largest single-day tally record, stoking fears that new lockdowns could take a toll on the economic recovery.

  • Sony Invests $250 Million in Unreal Engine Maker Epic Games
    Bloomberg

    Sony Invests $250 Million in Unreal Engine Maker Epic Games

    (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. invested $250 million in Epic Games Inc., owner of the popular video game Fortnite and the widely used Unreal Engine for game development.The PlayStation maker and Fortnite proprietor didn’t disclose the new value of the games company. Bloomberg News first reported last month that Epic was close to securing funding at a valuation of about $17 billion.The Unreal Engine is used to create many popular game franchises, such as Borderlands and Gears of War, along with Epic’s own Fortnite. The fifth iteration, Unreal Engine 5, made its debut this summer and was demonstrated on PlayStation 5 hardware, signaling the close collaboration between Epic and Sony.Sony is preparing for the introduction later this year of the PlayStation 5, its first major game console release since 2013. Epic is primarily focused on games, but Tim Sweeney, its chief executive officer, said in a statement Thursday that he shares a vision with Sony of a “convergence of gaming, film and music.”Sony’s shares were up as much as 3.2% in Tokyo on Friday, approaching a 19-year high for the company.“Tim Sweeney has a track record of being able to sense which way the wind is blowing in gaming and he is tipping his hand that it’s blowing Sony’s way,” according to Mio Kato, an analyst at LightStream Research. The Unreal Engine is also used in the making of the Netflix Inc. series “The Mandalorian,” so it “blends nicely” with Sony’s interests in TV and movie production as well as gaming, Kato wrote in a note on Smartkarma.Fortnite has been an influential force in games and culture over the last few years. The game had more than 350 million players as of April, benefiting from the influx of people spending more time at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Quarantine has also been a boon for Houseparty, another Epic property, which allows people to chat over video and play games with their friends. Some 50 million users signed up to use the app in March and April.Read more: Fortnite, Rappers and the Billion-Dollar Pandemic Gaming Boom(Updates with Sony share price and Unreal Engine details from third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • SoftBank-Backed Coupang Buys Hooq Assets to Take on Netflix
    Bloomberg

    SoftBank-Backed Coupang Buys Hooq Assets to Take on Netflix

    (Bloomberg) -- South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Corp. is buying the software of Hooq Digital Ltd., the Southeast Asian video streaming service owned by Singtel, Sony and Warner Bros that’s filed for liquidation, according to people familiar with the deal.Coupang has already struck a deal to acquire the assets, the people said, asking not to be named because the information hasn’t been announced.The deal ushers SoftBank-backed Coupang into a competitive but fragmented video streaming arena and pits it against the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. U.S. giants have emerged as frontrunners, squeezing out a number of domestic players with splashier local programming and fuller Hollywood slates. In a sign of accelerating consolidation, Tencent Holdings Ltd. recently agreed to buy the assets of Malaysian streaming platform iFlix Ltd. And last month, ride-hailing giant Gojek won funding from Golden Gate Ventures and other backers for its own video foray.Coupang, backed also by BlackRock Inc. and Sequoia Capital, has designs too on its own home market. Korea in recent years birthed blockbusters that captivated global audiences from “Parasite” to “Train to Busan,” yet Netflix and Alphabet Inc.’s Youtube remain dominant local players. South Korea’s government announced a plan last month to nurture five homegrown over-the-top or streaming service providers into global companies, and support their growth by expediting deals and investment in content.A Coupang representative declined to comment.Read more: Tencent Buys Assets of Struggling Streaming Platform IFlixHooq, a joint venture between Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Sony Pictures Television Inc. and Warner Bros Entertainment Inc., filed for liquidation in March and discontinued service at the end of April. Set up in 2015, it offered movies and drama series across Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and India, but ran into trouble during the pandemic.Coupang, widely regarded as South Korea’s Amazon, has been aggressively expanding into new businesses such as food delivery and digital payments, mirroring the U.S. giant by broadening its services. The Seoul-based company, founded in 2010 by Chief Executive Officer Bom Kim, was said to be valued at $9 billion in late 2018 and has been eyeing a public listing as early as next year, Bloomberg News reported in January.Buoyed by the growth in subscribers to its delivery service, sales at the startup rose to a record 7.15 trillion won ($5.9 billion) in 2019.Read more: Coupang Grew Revenue 64% in Boost For SoftBank’s Startup Cred(Updates with details on Asian market from the third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Anaplan (PLAN) Stock Moves -0.29%: What You Should Know
    Zacks

    Anaplan (PLAN) Stock Moves -0.29%: What You Should Know

    Anaplan (PLAN) closed at $51.18 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.29% move from the prior day.

  • Datadog (DDOG) Stock Moves -0.03%: What You Should Know
    Zacks

    Datadog (DDOG) Stock Moves -0.03%: What You Should Know

    Datadog (DDOG) closed at $96.10 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.03% move from the prior day.

  • Why Fastly Stock Jumped Thursday, Soaring Past $100
    Motley Fool

    Why Fastly Stock Jumped Thursday, Soaring Past $100

    The stock rose nearly 7% as of 3:10 EDT. The stock's move higher was likely primarily fueled by momentum. Investors have shown an incredible appetite for Fastly stock since the company reported first-quarter results that blew away expectations.

  • Sony Invests In Epic Games, Creators of Fortnite
    Motley Fool

    Sony Invests In Epic Games, Creators of Fortnite

    Fortnite-maker Epic Games has not conducted an IPO -- and it may never do so. Tencent Holdings' (OTC: TCEHY) 40% stake in Epic -- acquired back in 2012 when Epic was a much smaller company -- remains much larger than what Sony will get.

  • USD/CAD Daily Forecast – U.S. Dollar Gains Ground As Virus Worries Return
    FX Empire

    USD/CAD Daily Forecast – U.S. Dollar Gains Ground As Virus Worries Return

    USD/CAD failed to settle below the support at 1.3500 and rebounded closer to the resistance at the 20 EMA at 1.3590.

  • Thomson Reuters StreetEvents

    Edited Transcript of MIME.OQ earnings conference call or presentation 11-May-20 8:30pm GMT

    Q4 2020 Mimecast Ltd Earnings Call

  • Is Fastly (FSLY) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year?
    Zacks

    Is Fastly (FSLY) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year?

    Is (FSLY) Outperforming Other Computer and Technology Stocks This Year?

  • Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Is In A Strong Position To Grow Its Business
    Simply Wall St.

    Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Is In A Strong Position To Grow Its Business

    We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, although...

  • Wipro Limited to Announce Results for the First Quarter Ended June 30, 2020 on July 14, 2020
    Business Wire

    Wipro Limited to Announce Results for the First Quarter Ended June 30, 2020 on July 14, 2020

    Wipro Limited will announce results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2020 on Tuesday, July 14, 2020.

  • Why Stamps.com Stock Skyrocketed 120% in the First Half of 2020
    Motley Fool

    Why Stamps.com Stock Skyrocketed 120% in the First Half of 2020

    Shares of online postage seller Stamps.com (NASDAQ: STMP) soared 120% in the first half of 2020, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. In 2020, Stamps.com stock is up 145% through July 8, compared with the broader market's negative 1% return so far this year. The chart below shows the stock's surges after the company reported Q4 2019 results on Feb. 19 and Q1 2020 results on May 7.

  • Fastly to Announce Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results
    Business Wire

    Fastly to Announce Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results

    Fastly will release financial results for the second quarter of 2020 after market close on Wednesday, August 5, 2020.

  • Business Wire

    OneConnect Company Gains a Foothold in Hainan Free Trade Port

    OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. ("OneConnect" or the "Company") (NYSE: OCFT) has signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Hainan Local Financial Supervision Administration to develop smart financial and smart supervision services in the island province of Hainan, as well as the financial sector in Hainan Free Trade Port.

  • Reuters

    Japanese shares rebound but spike in COVID-19 cases caps gains

    Japanese shares bounced back on Thursday buoyed by technology-related stocks following a rise in U.S. peers overnight, but gains were limited by a surge in domestic coronavirus cases. The benchmark Nikkei share average rose 0.4% to 22,529.29, clawing back from a 0.78% drop in the previous session. On the Nikkei index, there were 63 advancers against 158 decliners.

  • UMC Reports Sales for June 2020
    Business Wire

    UMC Reports Sales for June 2020

    United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), today reported unaudited net sales for the month of June 2020.

  • OneConnect Company Selected for the 2020 CB Insights China Fintech 50 List
    Business Wire

    OneConnect Company Selected for the 2020 CB Insights China Fintech 50 List

    OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. ("OneConnect Company" or the "Company") (NYSE: OCFT), was selected on June 29 for the 2020 CB Insights China Fintech 50 List, which recognizes the best fintech enterprises in China.

  • Brexit, COVID-19, and U.S Weekly Jobless Claims in the Spotlight
    FX Empire

    Brexit, COVID-19, and U.S Weekly Jobless Claims in the Spotlight

    It’s a relatively quiet day on the economic calendar. Expect the weekly jobless claims from the U.S, Brexit, and COVID-19 to draw attention.

  • Ping Identity Announces Upsize and Pricing of Follow-on Offering of Common Stock by Selling Shareholders
    Business Wire

    Ping Identity Announces Upsize and Pricing of Follow-on Offering of Common Stock by Selling Shareholders

    Ping Identity Holding Corp. (NYSE: PING) ("Ping Identity"), the Intelligent Identity solution for the enterprise, today announced the upsize and pricing of a public follow-on offering of 8,977,968 shares of its common stock by certain selling shareholders at $32.00 per share. Certain of the selling shareholders have also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,346,695 shares of common stock on the same terms and conditions. The offering was upsized from the previously announced offering size of 7,500,000 shares of Ping Identity’s common stock. This offering will not dilute ownership of any existing investors. Ping Identity will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling shareholders, and will not issue any shares of its common stock in the offering. The offering is expected to close on July 13, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

  • Bloomberg

    Power Pioneer Invents New Battery That’s 90% Cheaper Than Lithium-Ion

    (Bloomberg) -- Lithium-ion batteries play a central role in the world of technology, powering everything from smartphones to smart cars, and one of the people who helped commercialize them says he has a way to cut mass production costs by 90% and significantly improve their safety.Hideaki Horie, formerly of Nissan Motor Co., founded Tokyo-based APB Corp. in 2018 to make “all-polymer batteries” -- hence the company name. Earlier this year the company received backing from a group of Japanese firms that includes general contractor Obayashi Corp., industrial equipment manufacturer Yokogawa Electric Corp. and carbon fiber maker Teijin Ltd.“The problem with making lithium batteries now is that it’s device manufacturing like semiconductors,” Horie said in an interview. “Our goal is to make it more like steel production.”The making of a cell, every battery’s basic unit, is a complicated process requiring cleanroom conditions -- with airlocks to control moisture, constant air filtering and exacting precision to prevent contamination of highly reactive materials. The setup can be so expensive that a handful of top players like South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd., China’s CATL and Japan’s Panasonic Corp. spend billions of dollars to build a suitable factory.Horie’s innovation is to replace the battery’s basic components -- metal-lined electrodes and liquid electrolytes -- with a resin construction. He says this approach dramatically simplifies and speeds up manufacturing, making it as easy as “buttering toast.” It allows for 10-meter-long battery sheets that can be stacked on top of each other “like seat cushions” to increase capacity, he said. Importantly, the resin-based batteries are also resistant to catching fire when punctured.In March, APB raised 8 billion yen ($74 million), which is tiny by the wider industry’s standards but will be enough to fully equip one factory for mass production slated to start next year. Horie estimates the funds will get his plant in central Japan to 1 gigawatt-hour capacity by 2023.Lithium-ion batteries have come a long way since they were first commercialized almost three decades ago. They last longer, pack more power and cost 85% less than they did 10 years ago, serving as the quiet workhorse driving the growth of smartphones and tablets with ever more powerful internals. But safety remains an issue and batteries have been the cause of fires in everything from Tesla Inc.’s cars to Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner jets and Samsung Electronics Co.’s smartphones.“Just from the standpoint of physics, the lithium-ion battery is the best heater humanity has ever created,” Horie said.In a traditional battery, a puncture can create a surge measuring hundreds of amperes, several times the current of electricity delivered to an average home. Temperatures can then shoot up to 700 degrees Celsius. APB’s battery avoids such cataclysmic conditions by using a so-called bipolar design, doing away with present-day power bottlenecks and allowing the entire surface of the battery to absorb surges.“Because of the many incidents, safety has been at the top of mind in the industry,” said Mitalee Gupta, senior analyst for energy storage at Wood Mackenzie. “This could be a breakthrough for both storage and electric vehicle applications, provided that the company is able to scale up pretty quickly.”But the technology is not without its shortcomings. Polymers are not as conductive as metal and this could significantly impact the battery’s carrying capacity, according to Menahem Anderman, president of California-based Total Battery Consulting Inc. One drawback of the bipolar design is that cells are connected back-to-back in a series, making control of individual ones difficult, Anderman said. He also questioned whether the cost savings will be sufficient to compete with the incumbents.“Capital is not killing the cost of a lithium-ion battery,” Anderman said. “Lithium-ion with liquid electrolyte will remain the main application for another 15 years or more. It’s not perfect and it isn’t cheap, but beyond lithium-ion is a better lithium ion.”Horie acknowledges that APB can’t compete with battery giants who are already benefiting from economies of scale after investing billions. Instead of targeting the “red ocean” of the automotive sector, APB will first focus on stationary batteries used in buildings, offices and power plants.That market will be worth $100 billion by 2025 worldwide, more than five times its size last year, according to estimates by Wood Mackenzie. The U.S. alone -- which together with China will be the main source of increased energy storage demand -- is likely to see a 10-fold increase to $7 billion in the period.Horie, 63, got his start with lithium-ion batteries at their very beginning. In February 1990, early on in his Nissan career, he started the automaker’s nascent research into electric and hybrid vehicles. A few weeks later, Sony Corp. shocked the industry, which was betting on nickel-hydride technology, by announcing plans to commercialize a lithium-ion alternative. Horie says he immediately saw the promise and pushed for the two companies to combine research efforts that same year.By 2000, however, Nissan was giving up on its battery business, having just been rescued by Renault SA. Horie had one shot at convincing his new boss Carlos Ghosn that electric vehicles were worth it. After a 28-minute presentation, a visibly excited Ghosn proclaimed Horie’s work an important investment and green-lit the project. Nissan’s Leaf would go on to become the best-selling EV for a decade.Horie came up with the idea for the all-polymer battery while still at Nissan but wasn’t able to get institutional backing to make it real. In 2012, while doing a teaching stint at the University of Tokyo, he was approached by Sanyo Chemical Industries Ltd., known for its superabsorbent materials used in diapers. Together, the two developed the world’s first battery using a conductive gel polymer. In 2018, Horie founded APB and Sanyo Chemical became one of his early investors.APB has already lined up its first customer, a large Japanese company whose niche and high-value-added products sell mostly overseas, Horie said. He declined to give further details and said APB plans to make the announcement as early as August.“This will be the proof that our batteries can be mass-produced,” Horie said. “Battery makers have become assemblers. We are putting chemistry back into the lead role.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Here's How Atlassian Stock Gained 50% in the First Half of 2020
    Motley Fool

    Here's How Atlassian Stock Gained 50% in the First Half of 2020

    The cloud-based collaboration and project management specialist was already on a roll when the coronavirus pandemic arrived with even more rocket fuel.

  • Sony Invests $250M For Minority Stake In Fortnite Maker Epic Games
    SmarterAnalyst

    Sony Invests $250M For Minority Stake In Fortnite Maker Epic Games

    Japan’s Sony Corp (SNE) has invested $250 million to acquire a minority stake in Epic Games, the creator of video game “Fortnite”.The investment allows Sony and Epic to broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment assets and technology, and Epic’s social entertainment platform and digital ecosystem. The deal is still subject to regulatory approvals, the two companies said in a statement.“Epic’s powerful technology in areas such as graphics places them at the forefront of game engine development with Unreal Engine and other innovations. There’s no better example of this than the revolutionary entertainment experience, Fortnite,” said Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida. “Through our investment, we will explore opportunities for further collaboration with Epic to delight and bring value to consumers and the industry at large, not only in games, but also across the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape.”Fortnite is the world’s largest game with over 350 million accounts and 2.5 billion friend connections, while Unreal Engine powers the world’s leading games.The investment into the major player of video games comes as Sony is getting ready to launch its next-generation PlayStation 5 (PS5) console later this year which will compete with other rival products, including Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Xbox. The tech giant just announced a new July 23 games event to reveal its video game lineup for the upcoming Xbox Series X console.Sony shares rose 2.5% to $71.53 at the close in U.S. trading on Thursday taking this year’s advance to 5.2%.Five-star analyst Andrew Uerkwitz at Oppenheimer recently reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $70 price target, saying that the striking PS5 console and a strong slate of exclusives gives him confidence that Sony is well positioned for strong gaming growth over the next several years.“Starting strong in games is more critical than ever in next gen competition. Xbox not only builds momentum with its proactive series of events and management interviews, but also plays serious catch-up on the breadth and depth of its exclusives,” Uerkwitz wrote in a note to investors. “Sony needs to assure players that it is still the superior console platform with unique games.”The rest of the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook on the stock. The Moderate Buy analyst consensus shows 3 Buy ratings versus 2 Hold ratings. The 12-month average price target of $75.12 would provide investors with a 5% gain. (See Sony stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Microsoft Plans to Release A Second Lower-Tier Xbox This Fall- Report Microsoft To Close All Of Its 83 Retail Stores Nintendo To Reduce Mobile Gaming Presence, Wedbush Downgrades Stock More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * BP Invests $1B In Fuels Joint Venture With Reliance In India * Apple Is Developing Its Own Graphics Cards- Report * Carnival’s German Cruise Line To Resume Sailing Operations In August * Google Cloud Forges Multi-Year Deal With Renault