Toshiba Corp’s board has accepted a $15.2 billion buyout offer from a group led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners, the company said on Thursday, potentially drawing a line under years of upheaval at the conglomerate. A successful deal, which would value Toshiba at 4,620 yen per share or 2 trillion yen in total, […]
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China’s lithium prices are plunging faster than expected this year, down 34% in the last four weeks alone, hit by a slump in demand for electric vehicles in the world’s biggest market that has left stocks of the metal piling up. Spot lithium carbonate prices assessed by Fastmarkets fell to 260,000 yuan ($38,079.06) per tonne […]
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday that she is open to trade conversations with Chinese officials, but the Biden administration would defend U.S. interests and was focused on investments to compete more effectively with China. In prepared testimony before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Tai said that U.S. legislation to enable investments in […]
The launch of cheaper postpaid plans with unlimited 5G by Reliance’s Jio has put rival Bharti Airtel on the back foot in the Indian market and may delay recovery in its key profit metric, JP Morgan analysts said on Thursday. Jio, the telecoms unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, launched new postpaid plans last week, […]
Snap Inc, owner of photo messaging app Snapchat, launched a new division on Thursday that will help other companies build augmented reality features for their websites or apps. The division called AR Enterprise Services (ARES) marks the first time Snap will sell to business customers its AR technology, which can enhance photos and videos of […]
Moderna Inc has entered a licensing deal with Generation Bio Co to develop treatments targeting the immune system and liver, the latest such transaction by the vaccine maker as it expands beyond its COVID shots. Generation Bio’s shares rose about 13.14% to $4.40 in premarket trading on Thursday. Moderna will pay $40 million in cash […]
Hindenburg Research said on Thursday it held short positions in Block Inc, alleging that the Jack Dorsey-led payments firm overstated its user counts and understated its customer acquisition costs. “Our 2-year investigation has concluded that Block has systematically taken advantage of the demographics it claims to be helping,” the short seller said in a note […]
Sanofi’s asthma drug Dupixent met all targets in a trial to treat “smoker’s lung”, potentially adding billions to the French drugmaker’s growth prospects, but also underscoring a heavy reliance on its bestseller. In a late stage trial Dupixent, jointly developed with Regeneron, led to a 30% reduction in moderate or severe acute exacerbations of chronic […]
Accenture Plc on Thursday lowered its annual revenue and profit forecasts and said it would cut about 2.5% of workforce, or 19,000 jobs, the latest sign that the worsening global economic outlook was sapping corporate spending on IT services. More than half of the layoffs will affect staff at its non-billable corporate functions, the company […]
Private equity firms that acquired companies since the banking crisis started on March 8 have funded the deals mostly with their own funds, a departure from traditional leveraged buyouts that reflects their struggle to secure cheap debt. Four acquisitions of companies by private equity firms that were announced in the last two weeks were funded […]