Tech

Google defends Digital Markets Act changes, cites complex trade-offs

Published

2 months ago

March 21, 2024

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Google defends Digital Markets Act changes, cites complex trade-offs

Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google on Thursday will seek to fend off criticism about changes to its core services mandated by landmark EU tech rules, according to a copy of a senior Google executive’s speech seen by Reuters.

Oliver Bethell, a lawyer who leads Google’s EMEA competition team, will tell regulators and rivals that balancing the various interests has required the tech company to make complex trade-offs, according to the document.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which kicked in on March 7, users can remove any Google pre-installed software or app if they want while Google will need their consent to use their data across its various services or for personalised ads.
Google is not allowed to favour its services or products over rivals on its platform.

The DMA aims to rein in Big Tech’s power, ensure a level playing field for smaller rivals and give users more choices. The Act designates companies that control access to their platforms, such as Google, as a gatekeeper.

Rivals ranging from comparison shopping sites to hotels, airlines and restaurants have said the changes made by Google do not comply with the DMA and have urged the European Commission to act. Some rivals have complained that Google’s search traffic results are even worse than prior to the changes.

Bethell says in the speech that re-wiring the company’s search engine has been a balancing act.

“We need to balance the new opportunities 6(11) is intended to create with the risk to user privacy and security,” Bethell will tell a workshop organised by the European Commission to allow rivals and other interested parties to quiz the company. Six/11 refers to a DMA article.

“The balance requires complex trade-offs,” Bethell says in the document. “There is a question of when do we go too far by giving online search engines sensitive information at a high cost to users.”

Bethell said some changes demanded by vertical search engines went beyond the DMA.

“We heard some calls for changes from stakeholders that we think would fundamentally degrade Search for European users and businesses, that are not required by the DMA and that we can’t implement,” he said.

“The DMA should not require a degraded search experience on Google for European consumers.”

Bethell also took a swipe at other companies designated as gatekeepers under the DMA which have faced criticism over their compliance efforts.

“As we comply with the DMA, engage with the Commission, and listen to feedback from third parties, we expect the same from other gatekeepers too,” he said.

DMA breaches can cost companies as much as 10% of their annual global turnover.

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Tech

Reddit shares soar as earnings show advertising, AI licensing revenue potential

Published

16 hours ago

May 8, 2024

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Reddit shares soar as earnings show advertising, AI licensing revenue potential

Reddit soared as much as 11% in early trading on Wednesday after the social media firm floored investors with strong revenue growth and improving profitability in the first earnings since its market debut.

The company surprised Wall Street late on Tuesday with a forecast that it could post an adjusted profit in the second quarter, and its revenue outlook was also far above estimates.

The projections followed better-than-expected results for the first three months of 2024, showing that Reddit’s push to grow its advertising business and content licensing deals with AI-focused companies such as Google were paying off.

“We suspected that Reddit would come out strong out of the gates, and Reddit exceeded our bullish expectations,” Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik said in a client note.

“Reddit appears to be reaping the benefits of a strong digital ad market, buoyed by some ‘free’ IPO marketing, alongside increased traffic courtesy of their new favorite AI partner Google.”

Several analysts have said that despite being founded in 2005, Reddit was still in the early stages of the process of generating ad revenue and should benefit in the coming quarters from expanded ad targeting and measurement tools, among others.

The company’s more than 100,000 discussion forums, or subreddits, filled with user-generated content topics ranging from history to gaming have made it an attractive partner for companies looking to train their data-hungry AI models.

At least 7 analysts raised their price target on Reddit’s stock, pushing the median view to $55, according to LSEG data. The company priced its much-awaited initial public offering at $34 in March.

Reddit remains in the early days of developing its ads business, Piper Sandler analysts said, adding that a large international user opportunity remains untapped.

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Tech

Kretinsky and Layani face off in battle for distressed IT firm Atos

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2024

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Kretinsky and Layani face off in battle for distressed IT firm Atos

Shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust jumped 2.4% on Monday after the exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the price of bitcoin saw its first day of inflow since January.

The move marks a major milestone for GBTC, which has seen $17.46 billion in withdrawals since it converted from a trust to an easily tradable ETF in January, due to the higher fees it charges compared with rivals.

Some of the outflows were also tied to the wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry, as companies that collapsed in the last two years pulled money out of the fund to repay their creditors.

GBTC saw inflows of $63 million on Friday, according to investment management firm Farside Investors. It currently manages $18.08 billion in assets, according to its website.

However, its position as the biggest spot bitcoin ETF by assets under management (AUM) has come under threat from BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, which manages $16.91 billion, according to its website.

Grayscale said in March that it would seek approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to spin off a portion of GBTC’s assets into a new, lower-fee Bitcoin Mini Trust. The company has yet to decide on the fees for the Mini Trust.

Spot bitcoin ETFs, which were approved by the SEC in January following a decade of rejection, provide investors with bitcoin exposure without the need to directly hold the cryptocurrency.

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Tech

China to build 100-mile-long hyperloop train line by 2035

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2024

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China to build 100-mile-long hyperloop train line by 2035

China’s top engineering and rail design experts have exciting news: they’re planning to build the country’s very first hyperloop train line!

This futuristic project will connect two bustling cities, Shanghai and Hangzhou, spanning a distance of 150km (about 93 miles).

What makes this project so special? Well, it’s all about speed! The hyperloop train will travel inside a special vacuum tunnel, allowing it to reach mind-blowing speeds of up to 1,000km/h (that’s about 621mph!).

Before choosing the Shanghai-Hangzhou route, the experts carefully evaluated several options.

They considered factors like economic potential, population density, and existing transport infrastructure. In the end, they decided that connecting Shanghai and Hangzhou would bring the most benefits to the region.

This project is a big deal for China, and it’s being led by some of the country’s top engineers and scientists.

They’re excited about the potential for this hyperloop train to revolutionize transportation and boost economic growth in the area.

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