SAP to float Qualtrics after $8bn acquisition July 27, 2020 Software giant SAP is to spin off Qualtrics in an initial public offering, less than two years after buying the unit for $8bn. Qualtrics was the last big deal signed by former SAP chief Bill McDermott, who was criticised at the time for overpaying for Qualtrics. Just before the acquisition was announced, Qualtrics founder Ryan [...]
Astrazeneca secures $6bn cancer drug deal with Japan’s Daiichi July 27, 2020 Astrazeneca is set to pay up to $6bn (£4.7bn) to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo to develop and market a cancer treatment, marking the second multi-billion dollar cancer drug deal between the two companies. London-listed Astrazeneca today said it will pay Daiichi an upfront payment pf $1bn for an antibody drug conjugate — a class of treatments [...]
Kainos announces special dividend after strong trading period July 27, 2020 IT provider Kainos has declared a special dividend after a resilient year of trading in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The group said annual profit and revenue will be ahead of expectations as trading has been strong despite the impact of Covid-19. The figures Kainos said revenue for the year to the end of [...]
Intel’s next-generation chip delay sparks shares sell-off July 24, 2020 Intel’s share price sank more than 16 per cent as markets opened this afternoon, after it said it would be postponing the launch of its next-generation chip. Intel said it would be pushing back the launch of the 7 nanometre (7nm) chips by six months until 2022, after it identified a “defect” in its manufacturing [...]
3D printing takes on new dimensions July 24, 2020 | City Talk 3D printing’s evolution has dished up developments galore to chew over recently. Six months ago a company ‘making’ a (plant-based) steak captured headlines, with the BBC asking: ‘would you eat a ‘steak’ printed by robots?’. The same firm – a Barcelona start-up, NovaMeat – was in the headlines again a couple of months ago, unveiling [...]
Big tech antitrust hearing delayed as probe gets underway July 24, 2020 A US hearing at which the chief executives of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook were meant to testify has been postponed, as politicians press on with a probe into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour. The hearing in front of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel was meant to take place next Monday, but [...]
EU countries must urgently diversify 5G suppliers in Huawei aftermath, Commission says July 24, 2020 EU countries must take urgent action to diversify their 5G suppliers, the European Commission said today, a move set to shrink Huawei’s presence in Europe as the US pressured the bloc to follow the UK and ban the Chinese company from 5G networks. In November last year, the European Union agreed to take a tough [...]
Garmin shuts down as ransomware attack causes outage July 24, 2020 Garmin has been forced to shut down some of its operations after a ransomware attack caused an outage that left its fitness devices disconnected for almost a day. The wearable sports technology maker shut down services including its official website and customer services, including all phone lines, online chat tools and email. It also shut [...]
Apple shares sink on US deceptive practices probe report July 23, 2020 Shares in Apple fell more than four per cent this evening following a report that the tech firm is facing a probe in multiple US states, which allege it engages in deceptive practices. A March document obtained by a tech watchdog group showed the Texas attorney general may sue Apple for violating the state’s deceptive trade practices [...]
Musk’s SpaceX in talks to raise funds at $44bn valuation July 23, 2020 Rocket company SpaceX is said to be in talks to raise a new round of funding at a $44bn valuation, following a successful few months for the tech firm. SpaceX is seeking to raise approximately $1bn priced at $270 per share, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Helmed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, SpaceX [...]