AMP Robotics, an artificial intelligence and robotics company that is automating the recycling industry, has rolled out new trash-picking robots for recycling centers that will replace countless low-skilled jobs, reported The WSJ.
Single Stream Recyclers (SSR) in Sarasota, Florida, which processes 350 tons of waste per day, said last week that it would add eight AMP trash-picking robots to its already six. "Robots are the future of the recycling industry. Our investment with AMP is vital to our goal of creating the most efficient recycling operation possible, while producing the highest value commodities for resale," said John Hansen co-owner of SSR.
AMP robots are more productive than humans, can sort garbage more accurately and faster, are set to eliminate most human sorter jobs at SSR's Florida facility in the coming years.
"AMP's robots are highly reliable and can consistently pick 70-80 items a minute as needed, twice as fast as humanly possible and with greater accuracy. This will help us lower cost, remove contamination, increase the purity of our commodity bales, divert waste from the landfill, and increase overall recycling rates," said Eric Konik co-owner of SSR.
Hanson said, "It's 95 degrees, they're [human sorters] standing on a platform and sorting," adding that AMP robots are "twice as fast and they don't make mistakes."
Read the entire article
DAILY BUSINESS REPORT - Financial Updates, International Markets and Business News
Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts
July 12, 2019
July 3, 2019
HP, Dell & Amazon Join Manufacturing Exodus Leaving China
Though China wasn't the only Asian nation where manufacturing activity slumped last month, according to a slate of almost unilaterally disappointing PMI readings released earlier this week, the tend over the past year is increasingly clear: The trade war is President Trump's to win, as more tech companies resolve to move at least some production outside of the mainland.
And in the latest warning to Beijing that the trade war is having a real, and perhaps irreversible, impact, Nikkei Asian Review reports that HP, Dell and Amazon are joining the wave of consumer-electronics manufacturers who are planning to shift production elsewhere.
The burgeoning exodus, which also reportedly includes a half-dozen Apple suppliers (most notably Foxconn), Nintendo, Sony and others is threatening China's status as the global manufacturing hub.
HP and Dell, the world's No. 1 and No. 3 laptop manufacturers, who are responsible for a combined 40% of the world's production, are planning to shift 30% of their production elsewhere.
Lenovo Group, Acer and Asustek Computer are also evaluating plans to shift production elsewhere. And Amazon is planning to shift at least some of the production for its Kindle e-reader and Echo assistant. For all of these companies, the focus would mostly be on products bound for the US.
Read the entire article
And in the latest warning to Beijing that the trade war is having a real, and perhaps irreversible, impact, Nikkei Asian Review reports that HP, Dell and Amazon are joining the wave of consumer-electronics manufacturers who are planning to shift production elsewhere.
The burgeoning exodus, which also reportedly includes a half-dozen Apple suppliers (most notably Foxconn), Nintendo, Sony and others is threatening China's status as the global manufacturing hub.
HP and Dell, the world's No. 1 and No. 3 laptop manufacturers, who are responsible for a combined 40% of the world's production, are planning to shift 30% of their production elsewhere.
Lenovo Group, Acer and Asustek Computer are also evaluating plans to shift production elsewhere. And Amazon is planning to shift at least some of the production for its Kindle e-reader and Echo assistant. For all of these companies, the focus would mostly be on products bound for the US.
Read the entire article
June 27, 2019
Stunning Exposé Offers New Details About China's Infiltration Of 8 Tech Giants
Over the past year, Western media organizations have published a non-stop stream of reports about "Operation Cloudhopper": The Chinese government's clandestine program to spy on and siphon economic secrets from some of the world's largest tech companies.
We have shared some details of the program before: China's Ministry of State Security has worked with a shadowy group of hackers called 'Advanced Persistent Threat' 10 to infiltrate American and European enterprise tech firms using a very consistent MO: Hackers would infiltrate the cloud computing networks of 'managed service providers', then 'hop' from network to network', gaining entree to the networks of these firms' clients. Back in December, the US named some of the hackers suspected of working with APT10, and was backed up by Germany, New Zealand, Canada, Britain, Australia and other allies all issued statements.
Notably, the Chinese cyberespionage campaign continued even after Beijing and the Obama Administration agreed to a pact to cease all cyberespionage activities.
But as devastating as these attacks have been, the details have been kept under wraps, as corporate victims have pushed for their privacy to be protected. But for the first time since the US indicted the two suspected APT members, a sweeping Reuters investigation has laid out details of attacks, many of which have been previously reported, but not in quite as much depth.
Read the entire article
We have shared some details of the program before: China's Ministry of State Security has worked with a shadowy group of hackers called 'Advanced Persistent Threat' 10 to infiltrate American and European enterprise tech firms using a very consistent MO: Hackers would infiltrate the cloud computing networks of 'managed service providers', then 'hop' from network to network', gaining entree to the networks of these firms' clients. Back in December, the US named some of the hackers suspected of working with APT10, and was backed up by Germany, New Zealand, Canada, Britain, Australia and other allies all issued statements.
Notably, the Chinese cyberespionage campaign continued even after Beijing and the Obama Administration agreed to a pact to cease all cyberespionage activities.
But as devastating as these attacks have been, the details have been kept under wraps, as corporate victims have pushed for their privacy to be protected. But for the first time since the US indicted the two suspected APT members, a sweeping Reuters investigation has laid out details of attacks, many of which have been previously reported, but not in quite as much depth.
Read the entire article
June 7, 2019
Huawei Signs Contract To Build 5G Network In Russia
In a sign that Huawei is increasingly reliant on adversaries of NATO and the West to bolster its grip om global 5G dominance as Washington conspires to run it out of the west, the Guardian reports that the Chinese telecoms giant has struck a deal with an unlikely ally, Russian Telecoms giant MTS, to develop a 5G network in Russia over the coming year.
According to the Guardian, the agreement was signed on the sidelines of a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow, on the sidelines of a critical annual Russian economics forum.
The deal will see “the development of 5G technologies and the pilot launch of fifth-generation networks in 2019-2020." MTS said in a statement on Wednesday.
In a statement, Huawei’s Chairman Guo Ping said he was "very happy" with the agreement "in an area of strategic importance like 5G."
During the meeting in Moscow, Putin repeatedly praised Xi as a "close friend," noting that they had met nearly 30 times over the past six years. The trip is Xi’s eighth to Russia since 2012.
Read the entire article
According to the Guardian, the agreement was signed on the sidelines of a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow, on the sidelines of a critical annual Russian economics forum.
The deal will see “the development of 5G technologies and the pilot launch of fifth-generation networks in 2019-2020." MTS said in a statement on Wednesday.
In a statement, Huawei’s Chairman Guo Ping said he was "very happy" with the agreement "in an area of strategic importance like 5G."
During the meeting in Moscow, Putin repeatedly praised Xi as a "close friend," noting that they had met nearly 30 times over the past six years. The trip is Xi’s eighth to Russia since 2012.
Read the entire article
May 24, 2019
Vicious Cycle: The Pentagon Creates Tech Giants & Then Buys Their Services
The US Department of Defense’s bloated budget, along with CIA venture capital, helped to create tech giants, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and PayPal. The government then contracts those companies to help its military and intelligence operations. In doing so, it makes the tech giants even bigger.
In recent years, the traditional banking, energy and industrial Fortune 500 companies have been losing ground to tech giants like Apple and Facebook. But the technology on which they rely emerged from the taxpayer-funded research and development of bygone decades. The internet started as ARPANET, an invention of Honeywell-Raytheon working under a Department of Defense (DoD) contract. The same satellites that enable modern internet communications also enable US jets to bomb their enemies, as does the GPS that enables online retailers to deliver products with pinpoint accuracy. Apple’s touchscreen technology originated as a US Air Force tool. The same drones that record breath-taking video are modified versions of Reapers and Predators.
Tax-funded DoD research is the backbone of the modern, hi-tech economy. But these technologies are dual-use. The companies that many of us take for granted–including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and PayPal–are connected indirectly and sometimes very directly to the US military-intelligence complex.
Read the entire article
In recent years, the traditional banking, energy and industrial Fortune 500 companies have been losing ground to tech giants like Apple and Facebook. But the technology on which they rely emerged from the taxpayer-funded research and development of bygone decades. The internet started as ARPANET, an invention of Honeywell-Raytheon working under a Department of Defense (DoD) contract. The same satellites that enable modern internet communications also enable US jets to bomb their enemies, as does the GPS that enables online retailers to deliver products with pinpoint accuracy. Apple’s touchscreen technology originated as a US Air Force tool. The same drones that record breath-taking video are modified versions of Reapers and Predators.
Tax-funded DoD research is the backbone of the modern, hi-tech economy. But these technologies are dual-use. The companies that many of us take for granted–including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and PayPal–are connected indirectly and sometimes very directly to the US military-intelligence complex.
Read the entire article
May 22, 2019
Yuan, Futures Slide On Reports Trump Administration Expands China Tech Blacklist
US equity futures are sliding as Asian markets open after a NYTimes report that the Trump administration is considering limits to a Chinese video surveillance giant’s ability to buy American technology.
Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, a company controlled by the Chinese government, is now the world's largest supplier of video surveillance equipment, with internet-enabled cameras installed in more than 100 countries.
The move would effectively place the company on a United States blacklist, and as NYT notes, it also would mark the first time the Trump administration punished a Chinese company for its role in the surveillance and mass detention of Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority.
And this escalation has sparked selling in stocks...
Congress and the administration have responded with other measures that may clamp down on Hikvision’s business. Congress included a provision in its 2019 military spending authorization bill that banned federal agencies from using Chinese video surveillance products made by Hikvision or Dahua.
Read the entire article
Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, a company controlled by the Chinese government, is now the world's largest supplier of video surveillance equipment, with internet-enabled cameras installed in more than 100 countries.
The move would effectively place the company on a United States blacklist, and as NYT notes, it also would mark the first time the Trump administration punished a Chinese company for its role in the surveillance and mass detention of Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority.
And this escalation has sparked selling in stocks...
Congress and the administration have responded with other measures that may clamp down on Hikvision’s business. Congress included a provision in its 2019 military spending authorization bill that banned federal agencies from using Chinese video surveillance products made by Hikvision or Dahua.
Read the entire article
May 21, 2019
Beijing Warns Of "Unwavering Resolve" In Huawei Fight, Accuses Washington Of "Bullying & Blackmail"
As the anti-American sloganeering reaches an unprecedented level of froth (there's now an unofficial trade war 'fight song') across China, the Commerce Department has softened its anti-Huawei stance, calling for a 90-day reprieve to allow American broadband companies more time to work out a 'Plan B'.
The delay will cover continued operation of existing networks and equipment, as well as support to existing handsets and other limited actions, according to Bloomberg.
But that's not even the biggest trade headline of the morning, as analysts wonder how Beijing will retaliate for the war on Huawei. Anyone who thinks Beijing won't respond is being naive, China's ambassador to the EU warned Tuesday. China will provide a "necessary response" to Washington's "wrong behavior."
"This is wrong behavior, so there will be a necessary response," Zhang Ming, China’s envoy to the EU, said in an interview in Brussels on Monday. "Chinese companies’ legitimate rights and interests are being undermined, so the Chinese government will not sit idly by."
Read the entire article
The delay will cover continued operation of existing networks and equipment, as well as support to existing handsets and other limited actions, according to Bloomberg.
But that's not even the biggest trade headline of the morning, as analysts wonder how Beijing will retaliate for the war on Huawei. Anyone who thinks Beijing won't respond is being naive, China's ambassador to the EU warned Tuesday. China will provide a "necessary response" to Washington's "wrong behavior."
"This is wrong behavior, so there will be a necessary response," Zhang Ming, China’s envoy to the EU, said in an interview in Brussels on Monday. "Chinese companies’ legitimate rights and interests are being undermined, so the Chinese government will not sit idly by."
Read the entire article
May 20, 2019
Huawei will not bow to US pressure: founder
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is ready to deal with Washington’s crackdown and will reduce its reliance on US components, its founder told Japanese media.
President Donald Trump effectively barred Huawei from the US market on Wednesday and added it to a list which would restrict US sales to the firm amid an escalating trade war with Beijing.
“We have already been preparing for this,” Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei told a group of Japanese journalists Saturday in his first interview since Trump’s move.
Ren said Huawei would continue to develop its own components to reduce its dependence on outside suppliers.
Huawei is a rapidly expanding leader in 5G technology but remains dependent on foreign suppliers.
It buys about $67 billion worth of components each year, including about $11 billion from US suppliers, according to The Nikkei business daily.
The usually elusive Ren, 74, has come out of the shadows in recent months in the face of increasing pressure on his company.
Read the entire article
President Donald Trump effectively barred Huawei from the US market on Wednesday and added it to a list which would restrict US sales to the firm amid an escalating trade war with Beijing.
“We have already been preparing for this,” Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei told a group of Japanese journalists Saturday in his first interview since Trump’s move.
Ren said Huawei would continue to develop its own components to reduce its dependence on outside suppliers.
Huawei is a rapidly expanding leader in 5G technology but remains dependent on foreign suppliers.
It buys about $67 billion worth of components each year, including about $11 billion from US suppliers, according to The Nikkei business daily.
The usually elusive Ren, 74, has come out of the shadows in recent months in the face of increasing pressure on his company.
Read the entire article
May 16, 2019
China's Huawei, 70 Affiliates Blacklisted By US Commerce Department
Reuters reports that the U.S. Commerce Department is adding Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and 70 affiliates to its so-called "Entity List" - a move that will make it much more difficult for the telecom giant to buy parts and components from U.S. companies. U.S. officials said the decision would also make it difficult for Huawei to sell some products because of its reliance on U.S. suppliers.
Department of Commerce Announces the Addition of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. to the Entity List
WASHINGTON – Today, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it will be adding Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its affiliates to the Bureau’s Entity List. This action stems from information available to the Department that provides a reasonable basis to conclude that Huawei is engaged in activities that are contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interest. This information includes the activities alleged in the Department of Justice’s public superseding indictment of Huawei, including alleged violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), conspiracy to violate IEEPA by providing prohibited financial services to Iran, and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation of those alleged violations of U.S. sanctions.
The sale or transfer of American technology to a company or person on the Entity List requires a license issued by BIS, and a license may be denied if the sale or transfer would harm U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. The listing will be effective when published in the Federal Register.
Read the entire article
Department of Commerce Announces the Addition of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. to the Entity List
WASHINGTON – Today, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it will be adding Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its affiliates to the Bureau’s Entity List. This action stems from information available to the Department that provides a reasonable basis to conclude that Huawei is engaged in activities that are contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interest. This information includes the activities alleged in the Department of Justice’s public superseding indictment of Huawei, including alleged violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), conspiracy to violate IEEPA by providing prohibited financial services to Iran, and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation of those alleged violations of U.S. sanctions.
The sale or transfer of American technology to a company or person on the Entity List requires a license issued by BIS, and a license may be denied if the sale or transfer would harm U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. The listing will be effective when published in the Federal Register.
Read the entire article
April 18, 2019
Huawei CEO Compares 5G To "Nuclear Bomb", Warns US Against Tech Cold War
Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei has lashed out at the United States and specifically President Trump in interviews with Germany's Wirtschaftswoche and Handelsblatt newspapers at a key moment that Germany is mulling whether to allow the Chinese company's ultra-high speed 5G internet technology under a proposed "no spy agreement".
Zhengfei likened Trump's recent remarks delineating 5G as a threat that requires to US to stay "guarded from the enemy, and we do have enemies out there" as full of exaggerated fears akin to a "nuclear bomb". Zhengfei said in an interview that “Unfortunately, the US sees 5G technology as a strategic weapon,” and added, “For them it is a kind of nuclear bomb.”
Currently, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and even Japan have issued blanket bans on the Chinese company's technology from being sold or implemented in their countries. And other so-called "Five Eyes" intelligence sharing countries the UK and Canada are reportedly strongly considering a ban.
Germany this week has indicated there are no plans in place to prevent the Chinese telecommunications giant from participating in building Germany's ultra-high speed 5G internet.
Zhengfei told German news outlets that he's assured the country’s telecommunications regulator that no surveillance "backdoors" on its 5G equipment in the country would be possible.
Read the entire article
Zhengfei likened Trump's recent remarks delineating 5G as a threat that requires to US to stay "guarded from the enemy, and we do have enemies out there" as full of exaggerated fears akin to a "nuclear bomb". Zhengfei said in an interview that “Unfortunately, the US sees 5G technology as a strategic weapon,” and added, “For them it is a kind of nuclear bomb.”
Currently, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and even Japan have issued blanket bans on the Chinese company's technology from being sold or implemented in their countries. And other so-called "Five Eyes" intelligence sharing countries the UK and Canada are reportedly strongly considering a ban.
Germany this week has indicated there are no plans in place to prevent the Chinese telecommunications giant from participating in building Germany's ultra-high speed 5G internet.
Zhengfei told German news outlets that he's assured the country’s telecommunications regulator that no surveillance "backdoors" on its 5G equipment in the country would be possible.
Read the entire article
October 29, 2018
In Desperation Move, IBM Buys Red Hat For $34 Billion In Largest Ever Acquisition
In what can only be described as a desperation move, IBM announced that it would acquire Linux distributor Red Hat for a whopping $34 billion, its biggest purchase ever, as the company scrambles to catch up to the competition and boost its flagging cloud sales. Still hurting from its Q3 earnings, which sent its stock tumbling to the lowest level since 2010 after Wall Street was disappointed by yet another quarter of declining revenue...
... IBM will pay $190 for the Raleigh, NC-based Red Hat, a 63% premium to the company's stock price, which closed at $116.68 on Friday, and down 3% on the year.
In the statement, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said that "the acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer. It changes everything about the cloud market," but what the acquisition really means is that the company has thrown in the towel on organic growth (or lack thereof) and years of accounting gimmicks and attempts to paint lipstick on a pig with the help of ever lower tax rates and pro forma addbacks, and instead will now "kitchen sink" its endless income statement troubles and non-GAAP adjustments in the form of massive purchase accounting tricks for the next several years.
While Rometty has been pushing hard to transition the 107-year-old company into modern business such as the cloud, AI and security software, the company's recent improvements had been largely from IBM’s legacy mainframe business, rather than its so-called strategic imperatives. Meanwhile, revenues have continued the shrink and after a brief rebound, sales dipped once again this quarter, after an unprecedented period of 22 consecutive declines starting in 2012, when Rometty took over as CEO.
Read the entire article
... IBM will pay $190 for the Raleigh, NC-based Red Hat, a 63% premium to the company's stock price, which closed at $116.68 on Friday, and down 3% on the year.
In the statement, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said that "the acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer. It changes everything about the cloud market," but what the acquisition really means is that the company has thrown in the towel on organic growth (or lack thereof) and years of accounting gimmicks and attempts to paint lipstick on a pig with the help of ever lower tax rates and pro forma addbacks, and instead will now "kitchen sink" its endless income statement troubles and non-GAAP adjustments in the form of massive purchase accounting tricks for the next several years.
While Rometty has been pushing hard to transition the 107-year-old company into modern business such as the cloud, AI and security software, the company's recent improvements had been largely from IBM’s legacy mainframe business, rather than its so-called strategic imperatives. Meanwhile, revenues have continued the shrink and after a brief rebound, sales dipped once again this quarter, after an unprecedented period of 22 consecutive declines starting in 2012, when Rometty took over as CEO.
Read the entire article
August 20, 2018
Tesla Shorts Up $1.2 Billion Since Musk "Going Private" Tweet As Saudis Plan Investment In Competitor
It was less than three weeks ago when we posted "Tesla Shorts Refuse To Cover Despite Suffering Massive Losses" in which we wrote that "Tesla shares rocketed higher on August 2, by almost $50, the day after the company reported its second-quarter results" and added that "despite the stock rising more than 15% immediately after the report, WSJ analytics showed that short sellers are standing their ground in the name despite an estimated $1.7 billion paper loss resulting from the violent move higher."
At the start of the month, and heading into Tesla earnings, there was about $10.5 billion in short interest according to S3 Partners. And as the below chart shows, Tesla has remained the most heavily shorted stock in the U.S. both before and after its report.
Of course, the pain for the shorts only spiked on August 7 when first the Saudi Sov. Wealth Fund announced a 5% stake, promptly followed by Musk tweeting his intention to take the company private at $420, which sent the stock just shy of its all time highs.
Still, the shorts refused to cover, because as the FT reported on Sunday, while the buyout plan pitched by Musk may have been nothing more than a way to "burn the shorts", something the SEC is now allegedly investigating, less than 4 per cent of the short positions have been closed since his tweet.
And in retrospect, good thing they did not because as the bizarre events in the subsequent days demonstrated, Musk's market manipulative tweet - it has since emerged that funding was not secured - may have been the catalyst to not only an SEC investigation, but the last nail of what has been one long, at times surreal emotional collapse for the Tesla CEO.
Read the entire article
At the start of the month, and heading into Tesla earnings, there was about $10.5 billion in short interest according to S3 Partners. And as the below chart shows, Tesla has remained the most heavily shorted stock in the U.S. both before and after its report.
Of course, the pain for the shorts only spiked on August 7 when first the Saudi Sov. Wealth Fund announced a 5% stake, promptly followed by Musk tweeting his intention to take the company private at $420, which sent the stock just shy of its all time highs.
Still, the shorts refused to cover, because as the FT reported on Sunday, while the buyout plan pitched by Musk may have been nothing more than a way to "burn the shorts", something the SEC is now allegedly investigating, less than 4 per cent of the short positions have been closed since his tweet.
And in retrospect, good thing they did not because as the bizarre events in the subsequent days demonstrated, Musk's market manipulative tweet - it has since emerged that funding was not secured - may have been the catalyst to not only an SEC investigation, but the last nail of what has been one long, at times surreal emotional collapse for the Tesla CEO.
Read the entire article
August 10, 2018
Tesla Board Confirms It Never Saw LBO "Financing Plan" From Musk
Three days into the Tesla "going private" saga, everyone continues to scramble for more information on the biggest wildcard in the entire equation: the "committed funding" as represented by Elon Musk: shareholders are asking where it is; bankers - i.e., those who should have arranged it - are asking where it is; even the SEC is asking where it is (and probing if Musk was being "truthful" with the alternative being stock manipulation which opens up Tesla to fraud lawsuits), and now Reuters reports that even the Tesla Board of Directors wants to know where it is.
According to Reuters, Tesla's board of directors is seeking more information from CEO Elon Musk about the finance for his plan to take the U.S. electric car maker private.
And here is the punchline: While Tesla's board has held multiple discussions about the proposal - as it documented in its statement on Wednesday - it has "not yet received a detailed financing plan from Musk and specific information on who will provide the funding."
As a reminder, in a statement on Wednesday, Tesla's board said its discussion with Musk "addressed the funding" for the deal, without offering more details. And now we know why: because it had none, and one increasingly wonders if the Board simply made up the fact that it had multiple discussions just to cover Musk's back.
But there is another big problem, if only from a timing/legal standpoint: if the board has no idea where the funding is coming from, there is no way it could have signed off on it, thereby "securing it", which means that all else equal, Musk's tweet that sent the stock price soaring was a fabrication.
Read the entire article
According to Reuters, Tesla's board of directors is seeking more information from CEO Elon Musk about the finance for his plan to take the U.S. electric car maker private.
And here is the punchline: While Tesla's board has held multiple discussions about the proposal - as it documented in its statement on Wednesday - it has "not yet received a detailed financing plan from Musk and specific information on who will provide the funding."
As a reminder, in a statement on Wednesday, Tesla's board said its discussion with Musk "addressed the funding" for the deal, without offering more details. And now we know why: because it had none, and one increasingly wonders if the Board simply made up the fact that it had multiple discussions just to cover Musk's back.
But there is another big problem, if only from a timing/legal standpoint: if the board has no idea where the funding is coming from, there is no way it could have signed off on it, thereby "securing it", which means that all else equal, Musk's tweet that sent the stock price soaring was a fabrication.
Read the entire article
July 26, 2018
Tech Investors Start To Panic As Facebook’s Stock Price Plunges More Than 20 Percent
Is this the beginning of the fall of Facebook? After announcing disappointing numbers for the second quarter on Wednesday, Facebook’s stock price plunged more than 20 percent in after-hours trading. If that decline holds on Thursday, it will be the biggest stock price drop in Facebook’s entire history. But the truth is that we will probably see the stock price bounce back a bit, because Wednesday’s crash was almost certainly an overreaction. Unlike many other tech companies, Facebook is still making lots of money, and the number of users globally is still growing. However, there are definitely some huge red flags. In the U.S. and Canada the number of users is stagnant, and in Europe the number of users is actually declining. Facebook’s user base is aging as many young people abandon the platform for trendier alternatives, and there is a growing backlash among conservatives against the tremendous censorship that we have seen in recent months. People are hungry for an alternative, and if something more appealing comes along Facebook could ultimately suffer the same fate as MySpace very rapidly.
Stock prices tend to fall a lot faster than they go up, but what happened to Facebook on Wednesday was truly breathtaking…
Facebook lost about $130 billion in market value in just two hours, its steepest stock decline ever, after warning of slowing sales growth.
The stock, which plunged as much as 24% in after-hours trading Wednesday, had a cascading effect on competitors Snap and Twitter, which dropped, too. Traders are bracing for a decline in tech stocks when the markets open Thursday.
Read the entire article
Stock prices tend to fall a lot faster than they go up, but what happened to Facebook on Wednesday was truly breathtaking…
Facebook lost about $130 billion in market value in just two hours, its steepest stock decline ever, after warning of slowing sales growth.
The stock, which plunged as much as 24% in after-hours trading Wednesday, had a cascading effect on competitors Snap and Twitter, which dropped, too. Traders are bracing for a decline in tech stocks when the markets open Thursday.
Read the entire article
July 18, 2018
EU Fines Google Record $5 Billion In Android Antitrust Probe
Shares of Google parent Alphabet are in the red on Wednesday morning as European Union antitrust regulators unveiled a record €4.3 billion ($5 billion) fine against the tech giant for allegedly anti-competitive practices related to Google's Android operating system. The wide-ranging probes into Alphabet have been a primary focus of Margrethe Vestager, the bloc's famously aggressive competition commissioner, since she was first appointed to the role in 2014.
Wednesday's fine follows a then-record 2.4 billion euro ($2.8 billion) levied by Vestager last year over allegations that Google's search feature unfairly benefited its comparative-shopping service.
Of course, the size of the latest fine is certainly notable, and begs the question: Is the bloc using these fines to retaliate against the US tech industry and President Trump for his refusal to grant a permanent exemption to the EU from the US's tariffs on aluminum and steel imports? Like China, which is also employing similar "stealth" retaliatory measures, the bloc also has a massive trade surplus of roughly $150 billion with the US.
Others have speculated that the hefty fines and intense scrutiny are a result of resentments in the EU over the global dominance of the US tech industry. Bloomberg broke the story, and also pointed out that the expected fine is roughly equivalent to the annual contribution to the EU's budget made by the Netherlands.
The decision will bring the running total of fines levied against Alphabet to €6.7 billion, and could soon be followed by fines related to Google's online advertising contracts - the last of the three anti-trust probes against the company.
Read the entire article
Wednesday's fine follows a then-record 2.4 billion euro ($2.8 billion) levied by Vestager last year over allegations that Google's search feature unfairly benefited its comparative-shopping service.
Of course, the size of the latest fine is certainly notable, and begs the question: Is the bloc using these fines to retaliate against the US tech industry and President Trump for his refusal to grant a permanent exemption to the EU from the US's tariffs on aluminum and steel imports? Like China, which is also employing similar "stealth" retaliatory measures, the bloc also has a massive trade surplus of roughly $150 billion with the US.
Others have speculated that the hefty fines and intense scrutiny are a result of resentments in the EU over the global dominance of the US tech industry. Bloomberg broke the story, and also pointed out that the expected fine is roughly equivalent to the annual contribution to the EU's budget made by the Netherlands.
The decision will bring the running total of fines levied against Alphabet to €6.7 billion, and could soon be followed by fines related to Google's online advertising contracts - the last of the three anti-trust probes against the company.
Read the entire article
May 7, 2018
Why One Hedge Fund Thinks Tesla Is Worth $0: The Full Presentation
With Elon Musk's public behavior becoming increasingly erratic, irrational and bizarre - just over the weekend trolling Warren Buffett that he is "super serious" about attacking Berkshire's Candy moat, just hours after he threatened Tesla shorts with "unreal carnage" in a tweet that some have alleged is a violation of securities laws - the Tesla bears have been getting increasingly more vocal.
And it's not just Jim Chanos: while the famous Enron nemesis remains certain that Elon Musk's resignation and Tesla's doom are just a matter of time, others have been increasingly aggressive about their skepticism, so much so that Tesla is now the most shorted stock in the US market, much to Elon's volatile chagrin.
Yet while most shorts believe there is at least some value in Elon Musk's car company, Mark Spiegel of Stanphyl Capital Management is convinced that when the dust settles, Tesla will be "a zero" (whether or not Musk will be "bankwupt" is another matter). He made this clear rather early on, in fact on the front cover, of his 156 page slideshows that he delivered at the Kase Learning short selling conference.
While we present the whole powerpoint below, here is the exec summary and some of the bigger picture observations:
3 Broad Reasons Why The Equity in Tesla Is Worth “Zero”
A snapshot of the company's current financials:
Read the entire article
And it's not just Jim Chanos: while the famous Enron nemesis remains certain that Elon Musk's resignation and Tesla's doom are just a matter of time, others have been increasingly aggressive about their skepticism, so much so that Tesla is now the most shorted stock in the US market, much to Elon's volatile chagrin.
Yet while most shorts believe there is at least some value in Elon Musk's car company, Mark Spiegel of Stanphyl Capital Management is convinced that when the dust settles, Tesla will be "a zero" (whether or not Musk will be "bankwupt" is another matter). He made this clear rather early on, in fact on the front cover, of his 156 page slideshows that he delivered at the Kase Learning short selling conference.
While we present the whole powerpoint below, here is the exec summary and some of the bigger picture observations:
3 Broad Reasons Why The Equity in Tesla Is Worth “Zero”
- Tesla’s financials are horrible and worsening even BEFORE massive competition begins arriving later this year
- Tesla has no “moat” of any kind and in fact now possesses trailing technology in all facets of its business
- A “bet on Elon” is a bet on someone who can’t be trusted -he has a long track record of making hugely misleading statements
A snapshot of the company's current financials:
Read the entire article
March 29, 2018
Trump: "Amazon Pays Little Or No Taxes, Puts Thousands Of Retailers Out Of Business"
If President Trump's tweet was not enough, White House spokesperson Raj Shah has just confirmed that tax policies need to catch up to Amazon, and President Trump would support tax changes aimed at leveling the playing field, which now favors the online retailer as Amazon has advantage over brick and mortar stores.
“Right now, there is no Internet sales tax and as a result companies like Amazon can buy and sell goods without having to pay basic retail taxes,”
AMZN is extending its losses on these latest headlines...
As we detailed earlier, the main driver behind yesterday's FANG plunge, was a report in Axios, according to which it was not Facebook that Trump wants to go after, but rather Amazon:
“He’s obsessed with Amazon,” a source told Axios. "Obsessed", and added that Trump has allegedly talked about changing Amazon’s tax treatment because he’s worried about mom-and-pop retailers being put out of business. Another Axios source said that POTUS has "wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law."
Trump’s deep-seated antipathy toward Amazon surfaces when discussing tax policy and antitrust cases. The president would love to clip CEO Jeff Bezos’ wings. But he doesn’t have a plan to make that happen.
Read the entire article
“Right now, there is no Internet sales tax and as a result companies like Amazon can buy and sell goods without having to pay basic retail taxes,”
AMZN is extending its losses on these latest headlines...
As we detailed earlier, the main driver behind yesterday's FANG plunge, was a report in Axios, according to which it was not Facebook that Trump wants to go after, but rather Amazon:
“He’s obsessed with Amazon,” a source told Axios. "Obsessed", and added that Trump has allegedly talked about changing Amazon’s tax treatment because he’s worried about mom-and-pop retailers being put out of business. Another Axios source said that POTUS has "wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law."
Trump’s deep-seated antipathy toward Amazon surfaces when discussing tax policy and antitrust cases. The president would love to clip CEO Jeff Bezos’ wings. But he doesn’t have a plan to make that happen.
Read the entire article
March 28, 2018
Tech Shares Tumble Again as Regulatory Risks Rattle Investors
Technology stocks are suffering one of their worst beatings in years, as investors reassess a sector that has been considered the growth engine of the global economy but now faces the prospect of greater regulatory scrutiny.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.9% Tuesday. That selloff carried over to the broader market, where the S&P 500 index slumped 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%, giving back some of Monday’s 2.8% rebound.
U.S. Treasury yields also declined. Analysts said that reflected in part a move by some investors to reduce risk at the end of the quarter by selling stocks and putting that cash into bonds. Bond prices rise when yields fall.
But tech shares were hit the hardest, dragging down the broader market in the final hour of trading. A series of recent developments pointed to more government oversight of the industry.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is planning to testify before Congress about the social-media company’s privacy and data-use standards, according to people familiar with the matter. The company’s shares fell 4.9% on Tuesday and are down 15% this month over concerns about its handling of user data, on track for its worst monthly decline since 2012.
Read the entire article
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.9% Tuesday. That selloff carried over to the broader market, where the S&P 500 index slumped 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%, giving back some of Monday’s 2.8% rebound.
U.S. Treasury yields also declined. Analysts said that reflected in part a move by some investors to reduce risk at the end of the quarter by selling stocks and putting that cash into bonds. Bond prices rise when yields fall.
But tech shares were hit the hardest, dragging down the broader market in the final hour of trading. A series of recent developments pointed to more government oversight of the industry.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is planning to testify before Congress about the social-media company’s privacy and data-use standards, according to people familiar with the matter. The company’s shares fell 4.9% on Tuesday and are down 15% this month over concerns about its handling of user data, on track for its worst monthly decline since 2012.
Read the entire article
January 12, 2018
Henry Ford, Dot.com & Bitcoins
Why history matters
Is ‘history more or less bunk?’ It provides valuable lessons
Henry Ford once said that “history is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history that we make today”. And yet, Ford was aware that he was making history, and his remarks were aimed at the orthodoxy.
What has Henry Ford to do with bitcoins? In 1900 when he was experimenting with cars, there were around 2,000 car makers globally that were producing 10,000 vehicles (some powered by steam). However by 1920, the number of car makers shrunk to around 200, and the industry was manufacturing 2.5m cars and by the 1930s in most DMs, horses were dead and buggy makers were out of business. By the 1980s, the number of car makers dropped below 50 and the industry was making over 30m vehicles. Today, there are over 1,000 cryptocurrencies and their combined value (depending on time of day) is ~US$600-800bn, or ~1% of global money in circulation. Will cryptos follow the same trajectory as their early 20th century cousin and within a decade or so become the dominant force in transactions and store of value?
The key that links cryptos with Henry Ford and the main difference between (say) bitcoin and tulips is that cryptocurrencies are based on sustainable and evolving technological foundations (just as cars were in the early 20th century). To argue that the blockchain is good but cryptos bad is to forget that without various forms of ledger balances (or cryptocurrencies), blockchain is an empty vessel. As in the case of the 17th century Dutch Tulip Mania, the growth of cryptocurrencies is also turbocharged by creeping monetary debasement. It is the marriage of technology and the perceived need for insurance that is likely to guarantee cryptos’ LT role, irrespective what the governments think.
Read the entire article
Is ‘history more or less bunk?’ It provides valuable lessons
Henry Ford once said that “history is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history that we make today”. And yet, Ford was aware that he was making history, and his remarks were aimed at the orthodoxy.
What has Henry Ford to do with bitcoins? In 1900 when he was experimenting with cars, there were around 2,000 car makers globally that were producing 10,000 vehicles (some powered by steam). However by 1920, the number of car makers shrunk to around 200, and the industry was manufacturing 2.5m cars and by the 1930s in most DMs, horses were dead and buggy makers were out of business. By the 1980s, the number of car makers dropped below 50 and the industry was making over 30m vehicles. Today, there are over 1,000 cryptocurrencies and their combined value (depending on time of day) is ~US$600-800bn, or ~1% of global money in circulation. Will cryptos follow the same trajectory as their early 20th century cousin and within a decade or so become the dominant force in transactions and store of value?
The key that links cryptos with Henry Ford and the main difference between (say) bitcoin and tulips is that cryptocurrencies are based on sustainable and evolving technological foundations (just as cars were in the early 20th century). To argue that the blockchain is good but cryptos bad is to forget that without various forms of ledger balances (or cryptocurrencies), blockchain is an empty vessel. As in the case of the 17th century Dutch Tulip Mania, the growth of cryptocurrencies is also turbocharged by creeping monetary debasement. It is the marriage of technology and the perceived need for insurance that is likely to guarantee cryptos’ LT role, irrespective what the governments think.
Read the entire article
January 5, 2018
Tesla's Model 3 deliveries fall short of estimates
Tesla Inc (TSLA) delivered 1,550 of its new Model 3 electric cars in the fourth quarter, missing Wall Street expectations as it tries to overcome production issues that have hampered the roll out of its most affordable sedan.
Shares of the Palo Alto, California-based company fell 1.7 percent to $312 in after-market trading.
The electric-car maker Opens a New Window. on Wednesday pushed back for the second time its target of producing 5,000 Model 3 sedans per week to the end of the second quarter.
Tesla Opens a New Window. had initially predicted to reach the milestone in December, but in November deferred the target to the end of the first quarter.
The latest sedan is critical to Tesla’s long-term success, as it is the most affordable of its cars to date and is the only one capable of transforming the niche automaker to a mass producer amid a sea of rivals entering the nascent electric vehicle market.
Read the entire article
Shares of the Palo Alto, California-based company fell 1.7 percent to $312 in after-market trading.
The electric-car maker Opens a New Window. on Wednesday pushed back for the second time its target of producing 5,000 Model 3 sedans per week to the end of the second quarter.
Tesla Opens a New Window. had initially predicted to reach the milestone in December, but in November deferred the target to the end of the first quarter.
The latest sedan is critical to Tesla’s long-term success, as it is the most affordable of its cars to date and is the only one capable of transforming the niche automaker to a mass producer amid a sea of rivals entering the nascent electric vehicle market.
Read the entire article
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