5/4/2016

Baidi (Chinese Search Engine) is facing Charges

Baidu (i.e. the Chinese Google) fell 8% after its CEO was summoned by authorities for being tied to the death of a student that used the company’s search engine to look for treatment for his cancer. The student turned to Baidu to look online for the best place for treatment, finding a department under the Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps that offered an experimental form of treatment that ultimately failed, according to state media. Before dying, Wei had posted criticism online accusing Baidu of promoting false medical information, as well as the hospital for misleading advertising in claiming a high success rate for the experimental treatment. This year, Baidu was criticized for selling management rights for an online forum related, the official Xinhua news agency said. In 2010, China's state-run television accused Baidu of promoting counterfeit drugs through its search engine.

Puerto Rico’s Default

Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro García Padilla announced the island would not make a more than $400 million debt payment due yesterday. He said "Much of the money is owed to big U.S. investors including hedge funds and mutual funds. Puerto Rico has been trying to persuade Congress to pass a debt restructuring bill without success.” "The island has been suffering through more than a decade of economic stagnation and population decline, and García has called the debts unpayable." He said that it is facing making a choice between providing its citizens with health care or paying its debt. "The situation is so difficult that we can barely cover the costs of providing services to special needs children," García said. "We're struggling to pay the gas needed for our police and fire department vehicles." The payment would have merely scratched the surface of Puerto Rico’s massive $72 billion debt, and remember, Puerto Rico can't actually declare bankruptcy, which means it's stuck between a rock and a hard place. And with more debt payments coming up, yesterday's default could pressure Congress to (finally) take action on the territory’s proposed debt restructuring legislation.

Hulu Looking like a Cable Company

Hulu is nearing agreements to license channels from its co-owners Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox, in order to flesh out a new, cable-TV like service. Hulu is aiming to launch this service in Q1 2017, which would let you watch channels like ABC, ESPN, Disney, Fox, Fox News, FX and Fox’s sports channels on your computer using Hulu. While today’s version of Hulu is available for $7.99/month, or $11.99/month without commercials, the new streaming TV service would be more competitive with a cable TV subscription, at roughly $40/month. This would also include a cloud-based DVR and a way to watch past episodes on demand, like many pay TV providers already allow for today. The service would include ads, as well.

AntiTrust Between Halliburton and Baker Hughes

Amid pressure from both U.S. and European antitrust regulators, two of the world's biggest oilfield services companies, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, have called off their $28 billion merger. The companies perform various services in the oil production process, including managing geological data, drilling evaluation, well construction, as well as transporting and processing the oil. If the merger was accepted, there would be a duopoly: the newly formed company, and Schlumberger, which is the world's largest oil services company. Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Gelfand of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division said in the statement that the merger would have "raised prices, decreased output and lessened innovation in at least 23 oilfield products and services critical to the nation's energy supply." As part of their agreement to end the merger, Halliburton will pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion termination fee, the companies' statement said.

AirBnb In Berlin

For people using AirBnb to rent out their homes in Berlin, homeowners can still rent out individual rooms, but renting out entire homes or apartments is now forbidden across the German capital. They can face a fine of up to €100,000 ($115,000), under a new law aimed at curbing a rise in housing prices. Andreas Geisel, Berlin's head of urban development, has said that the law is "a necessary and sensible instrument" to keep housing affordable. Rents in Berlin are still low relative to other European cities, though they increased by 56 percent between 2009 and 2014. Officials say Airbnb and similar sites have helped fuel that rise as more Berliners use their apartments exclusively for short-term rentals, thereby exacerbating the city's housing shortage. Some European cities have sought to more tightly regulate the service, with Paris implementing a tourist tax on Airbnb rentals last year. Berlin has called on residents to anonymously report people who violate the new law. According to The Independent, the number of Berlin listings on Airbnb fell by 40 percent leading up to the May 1st deadline.

Venture Capital Firm’s Payout

Stemcentrx is Founders Fund's (a Venture Capital Firm) largest exit in its 11-year history. The deal surpasses what the firm made from Facebook Inc. and sales of DeepMind Technologies Ltd. to Google, Climate Corp. to Monsanto Co., Yammer to Microsoft Corp., and Oculus VR to Facebook. Founder’s Fund cashed out with 1.7 Billion dollars on a 300 million dollar investment.

Google to Partner with Fiat

Self-driving tech is just around the corner, and just took another leap forward thanks to this latest alliance: yesterday, Google and Fiat Chrysler tied the knot, signing a partnership to create 100 self-driving minivans. For Google, the deal means it will be able to quickly expand its self-driving car testing program because it will not have to modify 100 minivans from scratch. Instead, it will take delivery of a fleet of 2017 Pacificas that have been tweaked to accommodate the array of on-board radar, laser-radar and cameras that allow cars to drive themselves. Chrysler + Google might be just the first in a series: analysts are expecting immense consolidation across the industry. Also, the partnership doesn’t mean either company is off the market. Expect multiple tech partnerships with many auto giants in the future. So far, Google cars have logged 1.5 million miles with only one at-fault accident.

Microsoft Acquires Solair

Microsoft acquired Solair, a startup specializing in connecting devices in workplace settings. Solair already relied on the Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. Solair, based outside of Bologna, Italy, has some cool applications. For example, its technology can connect one company’s espresso machines so they can be remotely monitored no matter where they are. If you think about that in a Starbucks context, you can see how that might be helpful and could save big bucks in diagnostics and maintenance. To get a glimpse into the potential market size, which has many vendors in a frenzy, research firm Gartner estimated that the number of connected gadgets will grow from 6.4 billion this year to 20.8 billion in 2020. That means there will be demand not only for a ton of the hardware devices themselves, but also demand for ways to link them between data aggregation spots (e.g. clouds) where that data can be collected and stored. This is a win for Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.