The most important news from last week
Microsoft will invest in Gatik
Microsoft Corp is in advanced talks to invest in Gatik, a California-based autonomous driving start-up, as part of its cloud cooperation with the firm. Microsoft intends to spend more than 10 million USD in a fundraising round that values Gatik at more than 700 million USD. As part of the agreement, Gatik will create autonomous delivery technologies for trucks using Microsoft's cloud and edge computing platform Azure.
Movement of Microsoft in the last five years. (Source: Trading Economics) *
Apple’s stock market value fell below 2 trillion USD
Following a dramatic decrease last year, Apple Inc's stock market value fell substantially, falling below 2 trillion USD for the first time since March 2021. The drop comes a year after Apple became the first business to cross the 3 trillion USD market value level. Exacerbating investors' concerns that a weakening global economy and soaring inflation could affect demand for Apple products, Apple had instructed manufacturers to produce fewer parts for its ear buds, watches, and laptops.
Amazon and Salesforce started to cut the job positions
Amazon layoffs will now total more than 18,000 as part of a previously publicized employee reduction. The layoff choices, which Amazon will announce on 18th of January, will mostly affect the company's e-commerce and human resources departments. The layoffs represent 6% of Amazon's nearly 300,000-person corporate staff. On the other hand, Salesforce announced, that they will have to cut about 10% of job positions, which is around 8,000.
Walmart already paid most of their 1 billion USD tax
Walmart said that it has already paid the Indian government the majority of the almost 1 billion USD in tax owed following the relocation of the headquarters of digital payments business PhonePe, which the US retailer owns through Flipkart, from Singapore to India. In 2018, Walmart acquired a majority share in Indian ecommerce company Flipkart, giving it ownership of PhonePe. Last month, the business said that it had completed the split of PhonePe from Flipkart.
Stellantis will build an air taxi
Stellantis, a carmaker, will assist in the development of Archer Aviation's electric aircraft and raise its interest in the US company. Air taxis, which can take off and land vertically to shuttle passengers to airports or on short excursions between cities, are attracting the attention of industrial enterprises and new entrepreneurs. The vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) Midnight aircraft will be manufactured in Covington, Georgia, beginning in 2024, with a production target of 2,300 aircraft per year.
* Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Sources: Investing, Reuters, Trading Economics, Bloomberg
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