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Technology

Silicon Valley fights for its life on immigration

7 Feb 2017

Over 100 tech firms, including Google and Apple, have joined the legal battle against President Trump's travel ban. They argue that the restrictions interfere with hiring and business operations. For an industry dependent on immigrants, the case represents a fight for survival.

Apple working harder to squeeze iPhone juice

31 Jan 2017

The company sold more phones in the holiday quarter, yet profit fell. A saturating market and slowing innovation aren't helping margins. Yet Apple's size, the prospect of a new phone and the ability to sell additional services are bright spots that should keep investors on board.

Virtual-reality patent wars could be a real drag

31 Jan 2017

Facebook is defending its Oculus unit against claims it stole intellectual property from a rival. The complexity of virtual reality, the potential market size and the winner-take-all nature of technology give good reasons to fight. Companies would do better to focus on products.

Kaspersky finds fighting cybercrime leaves bruises

30 Jan 2017

The Russian group's jump in 2015 earnings shows protecting corporate clients from hacking is a growth industry. Post-U.S. election, it should be in line for a further spurt. Yet the arrest of one of its experts by Moscow suggests reputational risk is its real challenge.

BT boss is behind Pearson’s in CEO sack race

27 Jan 2017

Both the UK telco and the education publisher have recently released profit warnings wiping a fifth off their market value. BT boss Gavin Patterson has a less-bad shareholder return record than Pearson's John Fallon. Some of the firm's bigger problems are also out of his control.

Microsoft and Google keep fog around cloud growth

26 Jan 2017

Quarterly results show both firms' on-demand computing units are growing fast. The tech giants are pouring resources into their divisions, as profit is correlated with scale. Microsoft and Alphabet are stingy, however, on essential financial details. These units merit more sunshine.

Viewsroom: Trump’s borderline tax ideas

26 Jan 2017

Two competing tariff ideas from President Trump and congressional Republicans bring merits but mostly unforeseen risks. Meanwhile, any cut in the corporate tax rate will benefit hapless Yahoo and its Asian holdings. Plus, why it pays to bet against Davos Man's thinking.

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial buys an American colony

26 Jan 2017

The $880 mln purchase of remittances firm MoneyGram looks like a counterintuitive bet in a de-globalizing world for the Alibaba founder's financial arm. International payments are a tough business. But MoneyGram gives Ant a U.S. base with tunnels to many developing markets.

Verizon’s ambition brings risk of illogical buying

26 Jan 2017

The $200 bln telco is eyeing $84 bln cable company Charter after taking on smaller AOL and – perhaps – bits of Yahoo. Past splashy bets like its $130 bln purchase of Vodafone are showing signs of structural decline. Verizon's search for new businesses is looking haphazard.

Cisco pays fantastical price to capture unicorn

25 Jan 2017

The networking giant's core switch and router businesses face tough times. Buying software firm AppDynamics for $3.7 bln offers some respite from hardware woes. At an estimated 12 times revenue, Cisco is paying over the odds to add a bit of excitement to its story.

Cox: Buy Amazon, short the euro zone, readers say

24 Jan 2017

Those are two ideas to emerge from people who attended Breakingviews predictions events in London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. Our audiences also anticipated a U.S. recession in 2019 and expected the family car to outlast supermarkets, television, the euro and NAFTA.

Panasonic joins ranks of Japan’s buyout bullies

24 Jan 2017

The electronics group has offered to buy out the remaining 45.5 pct of subsidiary PanaHome for about $515 mln. The stingy deal ignores the target's big cash pile. For all that corporate Japan has reformed, minority investors remain vulnerable to bullying like this.

How much could Yahoo gain from tax cuts?

23 Jan 2017

Breakingviews calculates Altaba, the Asian investment rump, could surge in value.

Yahoo may get good Alibaba news without searching

23 Jan 2017

Even as its Verizon deal hangs in the balance, U.S. corporate tax rates could be cut. That would eliminate the main reason CEO Marissa Mayer dithered over a $37 bln stake in the Chinese e-commerce site. Breakingviews calculates a potential 20 pct uplift in Yahoo's stock value.

Five things Davos Man will get wrong this year

23 Jan 2017

Each January the politicians, financiers and company bosses who gather in the mountains offer a snapshot of elite thinking. However, this "Davos consensus" is often wide of the mark. From Donald Trump to Xi Jinping, here are five widely-held views that will probably be mistaken.

Snap makes any good-governance pretense disappear

20 Jan 2017

The messaging app whose photos vanish wants to sell only non-voting stock in its upcoming IPO. Facebook and Alphabet waited years to move from dual-class feudalism to such derisive treatment of shareholders. What should be designed to fade away instead is these share structures.

HK exchange seeks to shed old-economy dependency

20 Jan 2017

The Hong Kong bourse wants to shed its overdependence on real estate and finance. A proposed new board with lower entry barriers and weighted voting rights may lure hot startup tickers. But getting off the ground fast will be tricky given unresolved issues on the main board.

Viewsroom: Davos goes topsy-turvy

19 Jan 2017

Team Trump is AWOL at the World Economic Forum's annual alpine shindig while Theresa May's Brexit plan has people on edge. That left it to China's Xi Jinping to defend globalization. Elsewhere, U.S. bank earnings disappoint. And Snapchat considers making investor rights disappear.