10 things in tech you need to know today (AAPL, YHOO, ETSY, AMZN) | ||
| | ||
Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know today. 1. Apple unveiled a new 15-inch MacBook and 27-inch iMac. The MacBook features a Retina display and a Force Touch trackpad. 2. Samsung could release its next Galaxy Note smartphone in July. It wants to try and undercut Apple, which is rumoured to be releasing a new model of iPhone in September. 3. Yahoo stock was down 7.6% after an IRS reviewer said that it could change the rules regarding spinoffs. That could hurt Yahoo's planned spinoff of its stake in Alibaba. 4. Etsy shares were down after the company reported a net loss. Analysts say that counterfeit goods are hurting the business. 5. The first software update for the Apple Watch has been released. It fixes bugs and performance issues, and also includes improvements to the fitness tracking feature. 6. Former RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal was reportedly arrested in October for kicking a woman. He previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanour charges for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in 2013. 7. Jeff Bezos has hired Amazon veteran Maria Renz to be his new "shadow." Renz will become his closest advisor. 8. Swedish startup iZettle is launching a card reader that works with Apple Pay. It could help small business start accepting Apple Pay payments. 9. On-demand helicopter startup Blade has raised $6 million in funding from investors including Eric Schmidt and Barry Diller. Flights cost around $650. 10. Spotify is teaming up with Starbucks. Starbucks employees in the US will receive premium accounts and will be able to create playlists to play in store. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
Burberry's stock is absolutely tanking despite rocketing sales | ||
| | ||
Burberry's stock is absolutely tanking this morning despite the luxury fashion retailer posting an 11% surge in revenue for the year ending March 31, 2015. Sales hit £2.5 billion ($3.9 billion) and adjusted profit before tax shot up 7% to £456 million ($706 million). It said British-made trench coats and cashmere scarves were the "principal drivers" of its revenue climb. However, shares fell by over 5% in the opening trading session. This is because, actually, foreign exchange rates had an adverse effect on profits, which fell 1% when you take the £38 million ($59 million) impact into account. In other words, the surge in the Swiss franc, the strength of the U.S. dollar, and the weakness of the euro hurt the company. Burberry added that the massive currency fluctuations will continue to impact the group all the way into 2016 and therefore it predicts that profits will be £40 million ($62 million) lower than it previously anticipated.
"We are pleased to report a strong full year performance, with revenue up 11% and adjusted profit up 7% underlying," said Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer, at Burberry. "Against a challenging external backdrop, our global team has focused ever more intensely on our core, including celebrating the British-made products that are our brand signature and extending our online and offline integration. "At this early stage of the year, we are seeing increased uncertainty in some markets. Against this background, we will continue to manage our business dynamically - capitalising on the significant opportunities we have by channel, region and product to create long-term shareholder value." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
| |
Zoopla is getting hurt badly by the estate agent fightback | ||
| | ||
Estate agents seem to be abandoning online property portal Zoopla. Zoopla's half year results filed today show the number of agents on its platform fell by 23% in the six months to March 31, equivalent to just under 4,000 people. That's a lot of lost revenue for Zoopla, which charges agents a subscription of around £300 ($464) per month to list as many properties on the site as they want. The big problem is the creation of OnTheMarket, a rival online property website launched in January by estate agent themselves. Agents are unhappy with the dominance of Zoopla and rival Rightmove and have launched a rival site that charges less to advertise and gives agents more say. OnTheMarket is backed by Agents' Mutual, a not-for-profit backed by top estate agents including Savills, Knight Frank, Chestertons and Strutt & Parker. One of OnTheMarket's policies is that anyone who lists property on the site can only feature it on one other property portal. Zoopla blamed this policy for hitting agent numbers, as subscribers to multiple site whittle down their numbers to join OnTheMarket. Zoopla thinks it's only a temporary problem though. The company said 'churn levels' — the number of subscribers leaving the site over the period — "have slowed significantly over the past few months and are returning towards normal historic levels." Zoopla is also managing to extract more cash from the agents that are staying, with average revenue per advertiser rising by 13% in the period. Overseas agents and commercial agents are also coming on to the platform. These factors helped Zoopla grow revenue by 10% compared to last year to £42 million ($65.07 million). Earnings before exceptional costs rose by 14% to £21.4 million ($33.15 million). Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 'The Little Prince' trailer looks better than anything Pixar has made in years  | ||
| |
10 things in tech you need to know today (AAPL, YHOO, ETSY, AMZN) | ||
| | ||
Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know today. 1. Apple unveiled a new 15-inch MacBook and 27-inch iMac. The MacBook features a Retina display and a Force Touch trackpad. 2. Samsung could release its next Galaxy Note smartphone in July. It wants to try and undercut Apple, which is rumoured to be releasing a new model of iPhone in September. 3. Yahoo stock was down 7.6% after an IRS reviewer said that it could change the rules regarding spinoffs. That could hurt Yahoo's planned spinoff of its stake in Alibaba. 4. Etsy shares were down after the company reported a net loss. Analysts say that counterfeit goods are hurting the business. 5. The first software update for the Apple Watch has been released. It fixes bugs and performance issues, and also includes improvements to the fitness tracking feature. 6. Former RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal was reportedly arrested in October for kicking a woman. He previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanour charges for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in 2013. 7. Jeff Bezos has hired Amazon veteran Maria Renz to be his new "shadow." Renz will become his closest advisor. 8. Swedish startup iZettle is launching a card reader that works with Apple Pay. It could help small business start accepting Apple Pay payments. 9. On-demand helicopter startup Blade has raised $6 million in funding from investors including Eric Schmidt and Barry Diller. Flights cost around $650. 10. Spotify is teaming up with Starbucks. Starbucks employees in the US will receive premium accounts and will be able to create playlists to play in store. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
UBS fined $203 mn over LIBOR scandal but gets immunity on forex | ||
| | ||
Zurich (AFP) - The Swiss banking giant UBS said Wednesday that it will plead guilty to fraud in the US for manipulating benchmark interest rates and pay $203 million in fines (182 million euros), but has escaped prosecution for foreign exchange manipulation. The announcement comes as four other major banks are expected to fined billions of dollars for rigging the foreign exchange market in settlements with US and British regulators. The US Department of Justice dropped charges against UBS into the currency rigging probe, and granted it conditional immunity for cooperating with the authorities, the bank said in a statement. It will nevertheless pay a $342-million penalty (307 million euros) to the US Federal Reserve and change the way its foreign exchange system works, the bank said. But a 2012 non-prosection agreement between the bank and the US Department of Justice over the LIBOR interest rate scandal was revoked by US officials, the bank added. UBS said it had agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud for conduct in the LIBOR matter, pay a $203-million fine and accept a three-year term of probation. UBS was fined 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.49 billion, 1.33 billion euros) in 2012 by Swiss authorities for its part in manipulating the benchmark rate. The regulators verdicts on American giants JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, British banks Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are expected to fall Wednesday. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
| |
The booming solar company that made its chairman one of China's richest men just imploded and shares tumbled 47% | ||
| | ||
One of China's most prominent companies saw its stocks absolutely torn to pieces today. Shares in Hanergy, the enormous Chinese producer of thin-film solar power components, fell by as much as 47% before trading was suspended. The collapse follows a suspicious boom that made the company's chairman one of the world's richest men. Hanergy shares rose by more than 500% in the last year, so even such a colossal decline only takes the price back to where it was around the start of 2015. Li Hejun, Hanergy's chairman, had been in contention for the title of China's richest man through his position, challenging Jack Ma, chief of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Here's how today's plunge looks in context:
The Financial Times says that Li did not attend the company's annual meeting on Wednesday, but there's not much more of an explanation beyond that: Hanergy’s public relations firm confirmed that Li Hejun, chairman and majority shareholder, did not attend Wednesday’s annual meeting in Hong Kong, although other senior executives, including Frank Dai Mingfang, chief executive, and Eddie Lam, finance director, did attend. “Chairman Li did not attend the AGM,” said T.L. Chow, an external spokesman for Hanergy. “He had something to do.” Mr Chow did not say where Mr Li might be, and Mr Li did not respond to request for comment. An investigation from the FT earlier this year showed some extremely suspicious movements in the company's share price. The huge surge in Hanergy's stocks had been occurring almost exclusively in the last ten minutes of the trading day. That meant that if you held the stock during its surge period, but only between market open and half an hour before the close (missing any gains made in the last half an hour) you actually would have lost money. During the period of Hanergy's rise there have been widespread concerns about overvalued Chinese companies. During the last year alone, the Shanghai Composite Index has more than doubled in value (though Hanergy is listed in Hong Kong). The Wall Street Journal has also cast doubt on Hanergy's model, suggesting that it "makes equipment to build niche kinds of solar panels that are either so inefficient that they have been abandoned by peers, or so new that the economics are untested." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
| |
