Here are the top trending stories from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Elon Musk may close Twitter Deal by this Friday
By all means, Elon Musk may finally close its highly contentious Twitter deal by next 48 hours. This move will be seen as Musk’s most decisive attempt to comply with the Delaware Court’s final deadline to close the Twitter deal by this weekend. According to media reports, Twitter’s other equity investors including Sequoia Capital, Binance, Qatar Investment Authority and others have already received requisite financial commitment from Musk’s lawyer. Musk had announced to buy Twitter in April this year for whopping $44 Bn before deciding to abruptly terminate the deal. If the deal does go through then it will be the biggest deal in the internet industry.
2)
Turkey fines Meta $18.6 Mn for anti-competitive practices
Meta has yet another bad news to content with. Turkey’s competition watchdog has fined the social media giant $18.64 Mn or 346 Mn in Turkish currency for indulging in anti-competitive practices. The Turkish watchdog said that Meta abused its dominant position by obstructing its competitors from collecting data from its sister platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Since last one year Meta has been struggling against series of regulatory crackdowns and slew of anti-trust fines. Other big tech giant Google has also been penalized with anti-competitive fines in other countries. Google was recently fined with heavy penalty in India for abusing its dominant position.
3)
China’s iPhone Factory hit by COVID Outbreak
Foxconn’s iPhone factory in China’s Zhengzhou region, which is the world’s largest assembly factory for Apple’s iPhone, has reported a small COVID outbreak. This news has also been confirmed by Foxconn. A Foxconn spokesperson has said that only few employees have been affected by COVID and the production targets of iPhone 14 will remain largely unaffected. Although Apple has been looking to diversify its supply production location, it still continues to depend on China for mass production of all its Apple products including iPhone. The market demand for the newly launched iPhone 14, except for the premium model, remains largely weak.
4)
Oculus Founder slams Meta’s Horizon Worlds
Palmer Luckey, founder of the VR oculus headset start-up Oculus, has lashed at Meta’s metaverse product Horizon Worlds. Luckey said that Horizon Worlds is bad and not fun at all. However, he maintained that the Horizon Worlds may get better in the course of time and match up with the market expectation. Luckey’s harsh comments are latest in the slew of unflattering reviews that Meta’s Metaverse product has been receiving in recent days. Even investors have reportedly raised red flag over Meta’s overspending on Metaverse. Meta had bought Oculus in 2014 for nearly $2 Bn in a pursuit to make a foray in virtual reality. .
5)
Flipkart to raise $2 – $3 BN to compete with Amazon and Jiomart
Homegrown e-commerce giant and Walmart backed Flipkart is planning to raise nearly $2- $3 bn at a whopping valuation of almost $40 Bn. According to reports, Walmart is planning to dilute nearly 7% stake in the e-commerce company that will be probably sold to an external investor. The competition in India’s e commerce sector has heated up especially with the entry of Reliance JioMart. American e commerce giant Amazon equally maintains competitive pressure on Flipkart, forcing the latter to opt for fund raise.