Revenue soars at Ocado during lockdown July 14, 2020 Retail sales for the first half of 2020 for online grocer Ocado jumped 27 per cent to £1bn, as Brits did their supermarket shopping from home. The group reported a loss before tax of £40.6m in the six months to the end of May, citing an increase in investment to handle increased demand as a [...]
Google to invest $10bn in India July 13, 2020 Google said today it will spend around $10bn in India over the next five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups, marking its biggest commitment to a key growth market. The investments will be done through a so-called digitisation fund, highlighting Google’s focus on the rapid pace of growth of apps and software platforms [...]
Amazon-backed Tesla rival Rivian picks up $2.5bn in single round July 10, 2020 Rivian, an electric truck-making startup backed by Amazon and Ford, has raised $2.5bn in a fresh funding round led by T. Rowe Price. The new round takes the total investment in Rivian to at least $6bn, including a $1.3bn round in December also led by T. Rowe Price. Rivian’s latest funding round was supported by [...]
Google’s Android 10 adopted faster than any earlier version July 10, 2020 Google’s latest update to its Android operating system was adopted faster than any other previously release, reaching 100m devices in five months. This was 28 per cent faster than Google’s last release Android Pie, it said this week. After 300 days, Android 10 had been downloaded on 400m devices — approximately 16 per cent of [...]
Tesla nears record for first stock to reach $20bn short interest July 10, 2020 Tesla is nearing a milestone as the first stock to ever reach $20bn in shorted shares, as its share price continues to rally. Data from S3 Partners released after markets closed yesterday showed Tesla reached a short-interest level of $19.2bn, climbing as high as $19.95bn at one point. S3 analyst Ihor Dusaniwsky said yesterday Tesla [...]
Sony injects $250m into Fortnite creator Epic Games July 10, 2020 Sony has invested $250m in the game studio behind Fortnite, giving the tech giant a reported 1.4 per cent stake in the business. Epic Games is now said to be valued at $17.9bn after the deal. The two companies said the deal will allow them to “broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment [...]
Financial services sector banks on a digital future July 9, 2020 | City Talk “We know you enjoy a little trip into town, but you can do your banking online these days…”: a typical multi-generational conversation as a growing number of people turn to online tools to help with their finances. Inevitably it’s not been a smooth journey. Many find comfort in the familiarity of a bricks-and-mortar bank branch [...]
Tiktok removed more than 49m videos for content violations in six months July 9, 2020 Tiktok took down more than 49m videos worldwide in the second half of 2019, it said today in a transparency report, as scrutiny of the platform ramps up. The removed videos represented less than one per cent of all posts on the app in that time. Tiktok said the videos were taken down for violations [...]
UK data watchdog opens joint probe of controversial tech startup Clearview AI July 9, 2020 The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office today launched a joint investigation with the Australian data watchdog of Clearview AI, a facial recognition startup. The ICO said the probe will focus on the data handling practices of Clearview AI, which scrapes data and biometrics of individuals from photos uploaded onto sites such as Facebook. Clearview AI describes [...]
Apple’s retail network pays just £6.2m tax on £1.4bn UK sales July 9, 2020 Apple’s UK retail arm paid just £6.2m in tax last year, despite raking in sales of almost £1.4bn as demand for its products boomed. Accounts filed today for Apple Retail, which manages its UK store network, showed revenue jumped 15 per cent in the 12 months to September 2019, despite not opening any new stores. [...]
