Epic Games to be valued at $17bn, as Fortnite event shuts out millions of fans June 16, 2020 The creator of one of the world’s most popular online games is set to be valued at $17bn (£13.4bn), as demand for its products spike during the coronavirus pandemic. Epic Games, which developed the Fortnite gaming franchise, is raising a $750m funding round from new investors T. Rowe and Baillie Gifford, people familiar with the [...]
Softbank to sell down $20bn T-Mobile stake as network suffers widespread outage June 16, 2020 Softbank is preparing to sell up to two-thirds of its stake in telecoms giant T-Mobile, it has emerged, as the network provider recovers from a major US service outage. The Japanese investment giant is coming to the end of a major share buyback scheme, which is being funded in part by a $41bn (£33bn) plan [...]
US firms to be allowed to work with Huawei on 5G standards June 16, 2020 The US is to amend a ruling which prohibited companies from working with Chinese tech giant Huawei on setting standards for upcoming 5G networks. The new ruling, signed by the US Commerce Department and other agencies, is set to be published on the Federal Register as soon as today. “The United States will not cede [...]
EU opens antitrust cases against Apple over App Store and Apple Pay June 16, 2020 The European Commission today launched two new antitrust cases against Apple, bolstering its fight against market dominance in the technology sector. The first investigation will explore whether Apple’s practice of charging a 30 per cent commission fee on sales and subscriptions made via its App Store is anti-competitive, following complaints by Spotify and Rakuten. Spotify’s [...]
Ride hailing app Grab cuts 300 jobs amid coronavirus hit June 16, 2020 Ride hailing company Grab has announced it will lay off more than 300 employees due to the effects of the coronavirus. The company, backed by Softbank, said it would cut about five per cent of its workforce after the ride hailing industry has taken a significant hit from the pandemic. Grab is Southeast Asia’s most [...]
How AI technology is leading the charge against Covid-19 June 16, 2020 The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has, until now, often been limited to specialised areas such as medical imaging and electronic health records. But with the Covid-19 pandemic introducing new, unexpected complexities for health systems to address, the benefits of AI are finally being realised in the mainstream. From helping us better understand [...]
Former Ebay executives arrested in cyberstalking campaign June 15, 2020 Six former top executives and employees at Ebay have been charged with cyberstalking, following a campaign of harassment against a couple who ran a negative newsletter about the company. Among those arrested were Ebay’s former senior director of safety and security James Baugh, and David Harville, former director of global resiliency. The former staff are [...]
UK space race fires up in first Shetland rocket launch June 15, 2020 Scottish firm Skyrora completed the first ever rocket launch from the Shetlands over the weekend, as the UK space race continues to heat up. The 6.5 feet tall Skylark Nano rocket was launched from the Fethaland Peninsula at North Roe on the Scottish island on Saturday, utilising the area’s remote location to its advantage. The [...]
Bezos open to testifying before Congress on anti-competitive behaviour June 15, 2020 Amazon has told US politicians it will make chief executive Jeff Bezos available to testify before Congress as part of a widespread antitrust investigation into Big Tech. The e-commerce giant had previously resisted calls for Bezos to appear before lawmakers, prompting threats from members of the House Judiciary Committee to force him to testify. A [...]
Microsoft’s Github drops ‘slave’ and ‘master’ terms amid protests June 15, 2020 Code repository giant Github has said it is ditching parts of traditional software jargon to avoid causing offence as anti-racism protests continue worldwide. Chief executive Nat Friedman said Github is developing a transition away from “master” — a term for the main version of code — to something more neutral. As the world’s largest website [...]