TECHNOLOGY
Microsoft to buy Revolution
Microsoft Corp on Friday agreed to buy startup Revolution Analytics, which makes tools to sift through data, to help the company build up its cloud-services business. Terms were not disclosed. The deal was driven by the growing volumes of data that companies are contending with and the need for more software that can help analyze information, Microsoft said in a blog. Mountain View, California-based Revolution Analytics makes a statistics programming language called “R” that helps analyze data. Revolution Analytics chief community officer David Smith said in a blog post that the deal would spread the use of advanced analytics within Microsoft products, including the Azure cloud service.
Acquisitions
Adidas to sell Rockport Co
Private equity firm Berkshire Partners and athletic shoemaker New Balance are buying Rockport Co from the Adidas Group. The deal is scheduled to close later this year, but financial terms were not disclosed. Rockport sells men’s and women’s shoes and boots. As part of the deal, New Balance affiliate Drydock Footwear LLC is set to join with Rockport Co to create the Rockport Group. Drydock’s brands include Cobb Hill, Aravon and Dunham.
Energy
Oil, gas limit GE revenue
General Electric Co (GE) on Friday posted increased revenue and net income for the fourth quarter, but was held back from even better results by a sputtering performance from its expanding oil and gas division. The company calmed investors by maintaining its guidance for this year’s profit, despite the low oil prices that are hurting its oil and gas operations, and a stronger US dollar that is hurting exports. GE reported net income of US$5.15 billion, up from US$3.21 billion in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 4 percent to US$42 billion in the period, but fell short of the US$42.4 billion expected by analysts.
Beverages
Anheuser-Busch buys Elysian
Anheuser-Busch said it is buying Seattle-based craft brewer Elysian Brewing Co for an undisclosed amount. It is the latest in a string of craft brewery acquisitions by Anheuser-Busch as it tries to counter soft sales of its own brands, such as Budweiser. Anheuser-Busch and Elysian announced the deal on Friday and said it would bring the brewer’s popular beers — most notably Immortal IPA — to a greater number of consumers. The deal includes Elysian’s brewery business and its four Seattle brewpubs. It is expected to close by the end of the first quarter. Anheuser-Busch is the US arm of Belgian-based Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, and is the world’s largest brewer.
Internet
Expedia to buy Travelocity
Expedia on Friday said it is buying rival Travelocity in a US$280 million deal merging two of the largest online travel operators. The all-cash deal calls for Expedia to acquire its rival from travel software firm Sabre Corp and follows a 2013 agreement in which Expedia powered the tech platform for Travelocity’s US and Canadian Web sites. Expedia operates other travel Web sites, including Hotels.com and Carrentals.com. Sabre manages online reservations for airlines and hotels. Last year it sold travel Web site lastminute.com.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six