Alibaba posts lower profit. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. reported an increase in revenue in the latest quarter, but profits fell as the e-commerce behemoth invested heavily in new business ventures and user growth. Meanwhile, in the cloud. Revenue from cloud computing rose 29% compared with the previous year, the company said, but continued to be weighed down by the loss of a major customer, which people familiar with the matter have identified as Bytedance Ltd. The WSJ's Stephanie Yang and Xie Yu report the division was also having trouble winning new contracts and securing some meetings as regulators were scrutinizing its e-commerce business and sister company Ant Group Co. Facebook cuts off access for NYU research into political-ad targeting. A New York University research effort, launched last September, recruited more than 6,500 volunteers to use a special browser extension to collect data about the political ads Facebook shows them. The company on Tuesday disabled the accounts, apps, Facebook pages and platform access associated with the project. Researchers tell the WSJ's Meghan Bobrowsky that the data provided information on misinformation in political ads. Facebook says the work violated its terms of service Microsoft office battles virus. Starting in September, employees will need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter any of the company's U.S. offices. (CNBC) U.K. cites national security concerns in Nvidia's deal for Arm. And the U.K. government may block Nvidia Corp.'s $40 billion acquisition of U.K.-based Arm Ltd., whose chip designs power nearly every smartphone and a growing share of the server chip market. (Bloomberg) Crypto ‘Wild West’ meets sheriff. Calling the asset class rife with “fraud, scams and abuse,” Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler signaled the SEC is likely to become more active in policing crypto trading and lending platforms, as well as so-called stablecoins. (WSJ) DHL orders first electric cargo planes. The order is part of DHL parent Deutsche Post AG’s plan to spend $8.3 billion by 2030 to meet its emission-cutting goals. DHL said Tuesday that it expects to receive a dozen fully electric aircraft from Eviation Aircraft Ltd. in 2024 for its DHL Express service. (WSJ) Activision Blizzard executives exit. As the videogame publisher seeks to stabilize its business after a gender-bias lawsuit, Activision Blizzard Inc. said the head of its Blizzard Entertainment unit and a senior human-resources executive are leaving the company. |