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Merger Creates Streaming Juggernaut
Walt Disney [DIS] and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries [RELIANCE:NS] announced Wednesday that they are to merge their Star India and Viacom18 units into a new Star India joint venture, which will have a value of some $8.5bn. Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, will control the venture and invest $1.4bn into its growth strategy. Disney has exclusive streaming rights to cricket’s Indian Premier League. Elsewhere in the space, Paramount [PARA] failed to hit analyst estimates on revenue, but streaming gains helped it to post a surprise profit.
Alibaba Slashes Cloud Prices
In a bid to drive the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in China, Alibaba [BABA] has said its cloud business is to cut prices on a range of its core offerings: more than 100 cloud products will see reductions of up to 55%, effective as of yesterday. “As the biggest cloud service provider in China and APAC, we see tremendous growth prospect of China’s digital market,” said Liu Weiguang, President of public cloud business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
14% Pop for C3.ai
The firm’s [AI] share price was up 14% in extended trading after it reported that revenue increased 18% to $78.4m in Q3, above analysts’ average estimate of $76.1m, while it predicts sales will be $82–$86m in the period ending in April, potentially above an analyst consensus of $84.5m. “Our significant first mover advantage in enterprise AI is generating tailwinds as market interest in adopting AI accelerates,” CEO Tom Siebel said in a statement.
Hard Work Pays off for Khosrowshahi
Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber [UBER], has been awarded options to buy stock worth about $136m, after securing a $120bn valuation for the firm. The performance-based reward was part of the deal that enticed him from Expedia in 2017. Khosrowshahi has improved the ride-hailing leader’s performance in recent times, to a level that few predicted it would hit so soon — if at all.
Apple AI Disclosure Proposal Rejected
AFL-CIO Equity Index Funds had submitted a labour union-backed proposal that the Cupertino company [AAPL] report on its use of AI in operations, and disclose any ethical guidelines it adopted on AI. However, shareholders rejected the proposal at the firm’s annual meeting on Wednesday. CEO Tim Cook has said the company is working on generative AI and will share its progress later in the year.
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