Technology Roundup – SoftBank selling $14B in Alibaba shares, Twitter pulls guidance as it measures virus impact

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Published on: March 24, 2020
Author: Amy Liu

SoftBank selling $14B in Alibaba shares – Bloomberg

SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBF,OTCPK:SFTBY) plans to sell $14B in Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) shares as part of its efforts to raise $41B, according to Bloomberg sources.

The rest of the money could come from selling its stake in the SoftBank Corp. telecom arm and its piece of Sprint following the T-Mobile merger.

Yesterday, SoftBank announced a record $18B buyback program as it works to slash debt during the coronavirus-related sell-off.

Twitter pulls guidance as it measures virus impact

Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) has withdrawn guidance as it faces down impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company has pulled its revenue and operating income outlook for Q1, along with its full-year forecast for expenses, stock-based compensation, headcount and capital expenditures.

It says it expects Q1 revenue “slightly down” Y/Y, and to incur a GAAP operating loss as reduced expenses are unlikely to fully offset the revenue hit.

Conversation about the virus along with product improvements are driving strength in monetizable daily active users, though, with quarter-to-date mDAU up 23% to 164M, it says.

It will provide another update along with Q1 earnings, set for April 30 before the open.

In choppy trading, shares are currently alternating after hours between flat and a 3.6% decline.

EU asks tech platforms for help with pandemic rogue traders

The European Union is calling on big-tech platforms (including Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google (GOOG, GOOGL)) to help it stop rogue traders from cashing in on the crisis through sales of masks, caps and sanitizer.

The EU’s Justice and Consumer Affairs commissioner, Didier Reynders, has reached out to those companies directly as well as Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), Rakuten (OTCPK:RKUNY), Cdiscount, Wish Shopping and Allegro.pl, asking them to do better at identifying scams and unfair practices.

Microsoft reveals unpatched Windows bug

Microsoft (MSFT -1.3%) says hackers are exploiting a security vulnerability in all supported versions of Windows, and there currently isn’t a patch to fix the problem.

The tech giant says the “critical” flaw is found in how Windows handles fonts.

Attackers trick a user into opening a malicious document and then remotely run malware on the system.

Microsoft’s advisory acknowledges “limited, targeted attacks” and states that the company is working on a fix.

Amazon delivering coronavirus kits in Seattle

Amazon (AMZN +2.3%) will pick up the test kits in partnership with the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network, a research effort studying how the virus is spreading through demographic groups to help predict its progression.

Amazon Care will deliver and pick up the self-swab kits to participants in Seattle’s King County. If the test comes back positive, a healthcare worker contacts the patient.

The company says the couriers have been trained in handling medical materials.

Amazon Care launched last month as a virtual health clinic for employees and dependents in Seattle.

Care was the latest move in Amazon’s healthcare push, which also included the $753M acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack in 2018.

COVID-19 Technology