BUSINESS
-
Gas Prices Drop: Are Internal Combustion Vehicles Cheaper to Fuel than EVs? In the United States, lower gasoline prices have led to lower fuel costs for battery electric vehicles, according to a new study. A study by consulting firm Andersen Economic Group found that the average fuel cost for entry-level gasoline cars is 9 cents per 100 miles... -
Buffett Boost: Japan's Big Five Trading Companies Soar on Berkshire's Praise Praises Japan’s big five trading companies in his annual letter Warren Buffett has once again energized the Japanese stock market. According to Bloomberg on the 26th (local time), Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, praised the five major Japanese trading companies (Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo) at length in his annual letter to shareholders on […] -
HYBE Hits Record Sales of $1.5 Billion, BTS Not Primary Contributor The group NewJeans, who belongs to the label ADOR of HYBE, is taking photos at the 2024 F/W Seoul Fashion Week held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Jung-gu, Seoul, on February 1st. Yonhap News HYBE (352820), which gained attention as the agency of BTS, broke the 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) consolidated annual sales barrier […] -
Mercedes Delays Electrification Goals To 2030, Commits to Combustion Engines Mercedes has confirmed that they are delaying their electrification goal by 2030 and will continue offering internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, according to Reuters. In particular, the automaker expects sales of electrified vehicles, including hybrids, to account for up to 50% of the total by 2030. Previously, Mercedes had committed to achieving full electrification by […] -
Samsung's Galaxy AI Sets New Standards: What to Expect from the S24 Series The competition for AI phones is growing, led by Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S24, and Chinese manufacturers and Apple are also entering the market. The AI phone market is expected to drive innovation in ICT and provide direct benefits of AI technology to consumers... -
Apple's Next Move: Smart Ring and Glasses to Shake Up Wearable Tech Market Apple is reportedly considering the development of wearable devices, including smart glasses and smart strings. Apple is doing this with the intention of increasing sales in the wearables sector and strengthening its own ecosystem... -
Jeep Accelerates Electric Vehicle Plans: Wagoneer S Coming to U.S. Market in Q2 Jeep plans to launch its first battery electric vehicle, the Wagoneer S (pictured above), for the U.S. market as early as the second quarter. It was initially planned to be launched at the end of this year. This is what Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa revealed to local U.S. media. Next, the automaker plans to launch […] -
Blackstone's CEO Takes a Hit: Stephen A. Schwarzman's Pay Slashes 29% [AlphaEconomy=(Chicago) Paul Lee Correspondent] Blackstone has cut its chief executive's pay and dividend. Reuters reported on Thursday that Blackstone Chief Executive Officer Steven A... -
The Motley Fool's Magnificent Seven Reveals February's Must-Buy Stocks [TheGuru=Eung-Yong Jung] U.S. investment publication The Motley Fool has named its top two "Magnificent Seven" (Apple, Microsoft, Google Alphabet, Amazon, Envidia, Meta, Tesla) stocks to buy in February. The list includes Nvidia and Amazon, according to The Motley Fool on Thursday. Nvidia is one of the best-positioned stocks to capitalize on the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), with its stock price surging 239% over the past 12 months. The Mottley Fool believes Nvidia stock remains attractively valued relative to its underlying business growth. Industry experts are raising their annual revenue estimates for the GPU leader over the next few years, even though growth expectations for the company were already very high. The stock's fair valuation remains an attractive buying opportunity, the analysis said. It currently trades at 35 times next year's earnings consensus, which is reasonable given Nvidia's robust growth. In particular, the $1 trillion ($133.5 trillion) data center infrastructure will drive Nvidia's growth. Nvidia generates $32 billion in trailing revenue from the data center segment and has about 80% market share in the AI chip market, which should provide more growth and returns for investors. "Amazon is a very solid company that generates returns to shareholders through multiple revenue streams, including cloud services, advertising, and online retail sales," The Motley Fool said of the company. "While its cloud division, Amazon Web Services, has gotten the most attention from Wall Street, it is the improving growth in e-commerce that is driving the stock higher." The Motley Fool noted Amazon's improving delivery speeds. Last year, Amazon shipped more than 7 billion items on the same or next day, the fastest shipping speeds in its history. The company's focus on speeding up delivery is expected to continue, making it harder for competitors to catch up. Amazon is also focused on strengthening its brand. It launched a new shopping assistant, Rufus, powered by generative AI, to encourage customers to default to Amazon.com instead of Google... -
Nvidia's Stock Surge: Riding High or Ready to Burst? Analysts have suggested it’s hard to see the sharp rise in Nvidia’s stock price after recording a fourth-quarter earnings surprise as a bubble. The factor that bursts a stock price bubble is a slowdown in sales, but the judgment is that Nvidia’s sales and operating profits can maintain a rapid increase. On the 26th, Eugene […] -
United Airlines Hikes Checked Bag Costs After Four Years United Airlines is raising checked baggage fees, following American Airlines. Reuters reported on the 24th (local time) that United Airlines announced an increase in checked baggage fees for North American travelers just a few days after American Airlines announced a similar increase. This price increase is the first in four years since United Airlines has […] -
Microsoft's Bing: The Search Engine Apple Just Couldn't Buy US CNBC "2018 MS made acquisition offer to Apple" Google's antitrust complaint reveals 'rebuttal' Apple compares Google and Bing, ultimately chooses Google "Quality search engine, not monopoly" Microsoft (MS) tried to sell its search engine Bing to Apple in 2018, but Apple rejected the offer. This was revealed in an antitrust lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice against Google... -
Meet the Smurf Bentayga: A $230,000 Bentley That's Turning Heads Priced at 381.4 million won ($400 million), it's an expensive car. When an American couple visits Bentay's store to purchase an EWB, the design manager makes them an unusual offer. Instead of choosing the existing colors and interior finishes, they were asked to pick a different color... -
Gas Giants Clash: Qatar Boosts LNG Amid U.S. Export Permit Freeze Qatar, one of the leading oil shipping countries competing with the United States and Australia, plans to increase its production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) amidst increasing demand and a halt in growth projects from its key competitor, the United States. Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi announced on the 25th (local time) that they […] -
Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund Pledges $70 Billion Annually for Vision 2030 [TheGuru=HongSungHwan Lee] Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), plans to invest KRW 90 trillion annually starting in 2026 to fulfill its Vision 2030. "We plan to increase our annual capital deployment to $70 billion (about 93 trillion won) after 2025," PIF Governor Yasir Osman Alumayan said at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Miami, U.S., on Nov. 22, according to industry sources. Currently, PIFs invest between $40 billion and $50 billion (about $53 trillion and $67 trillion) annually. The fund invests 70 percent of its funds in Saudi Arabia and 20 to 25 percent abroad. "The share of foreign investments has decreased, but the volume has continued to grow," Alumayan said. "PIFs invested $100 billion (about $133 trillion) in each country between 2017 and 2023, creating more than 103,000 jobs," Alumayan said, emphasizing that "we have made a significant contribution to the U.S. economy." The PIF is the world's sixth-largest sovereign wealth fund with $600 billion in assets under management and is a key source of funding for Vision 2030 reforms. It is chaired by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler. Saudi Arabia is implementing Vision 2030, a mid- to long-term development plan to move away from an oil-centric economy. It is a strategic national evolution plan to reduce the Saudi economy's dependence on oil, diversify its economic structure, and promote healthcare, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism. The goal is to expand non-oil exports from 16% in 2016 to 50% in 2030... -
Tesla to Slash Sentry Mode Power Drain by 40%: Huge Savings and Environmental Impact Tesla is rolling out a software update to reduce Sentry Mode power usage by as much as 40 percent. Electric cars lose power while parked, similar to the standby power of appliances... -
Rivian Shares Drop 15% Following Announcement of Workforce Reduction GlobalAutomotiveNews.com - U.S. electric vehicle company Livian announced on February 21, 2024 that it will cut its workforce by 10% and that production this year will be in line with last year's lower-than-expected levels, sending its shares down more than 15% in after-hours trading... -
FTX Cleared to Sell Anthropic Stake by US Court for Customer Compensation [Dugguru=Eung-Yong Jung] A U.S. court has approved the sale of FTX's stake in Anthropic, a cryptocurrency exchange that went bankrupt in 2022. FTX plans to use the proceeds from the sale of its stake in Anthropic to repay customer restitution funds. Bankruptcy Judge John Dawsey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington on Wednesday approved the sale of FTX's 7.84% stake in Anthropic, saying the company had reached a settlement with a group of customers. The stake is reportedly valued at about $1.4 billion. According to court documents, FTX invested $500 million in Antropic in 2021, acquiring a 13.56% stake. Subsequent investments, including a $4 billion investment from Amazon.com, reduced FTX's stake to 7.84%. "The growing interest in AI and large-scale language models has led to a significant increase in the value of Antropic's shares," said Andy Dieterich, an attorney for FTX, "and we will maintain the flexibility to sell our shares at the most opportune time." Until now, FTX customers have argued that FTX did not actually own Antropic shares, as it bought them with funds stolen from customer deposits. However, it was agreed that the funds from FTX's sale of the Antropic shares belonged to FTX customers, and the court approved the sale. Mr. Dieterich explained that he plans to repay customers with the proceeds from the sale of the Antropic stake, and that he has enough cash on hand to prove ownership of Antropic shares to a specific group of customers if he can convince the court. Mr. Dieterich claims that FTX has $6.4 billion in cash on hand. FTX plans to base customer redemption amounts on the current higher value of cryptocurrencies, rather than the November 2022 value at the time of the bankruptcy. Meanwhile, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Pryde was convicted by a court in November of fraud and money laundering charges. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 28, and he could face up to 115 years in prison... -
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Urges SEC to Approve Spot Ethereum ETF [TheGuru=Sung-Hwan Hong] Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has urged securities regulators to approve an Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). This is the latest sign of growing anticipation for the approval of an ETH spot ETF. "We believe that Grayscale's proposed Ethereum spot ETF meets the rules and requirements of the Exchange's proposed rules," Paul Grewa, Coinbase's chief legal officer, wrote in a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to industry sources. "Ethereum is not vulnerable to fraud or manipulation because it has a robust and decentralized governance system," he said, adding that Ethereum is not a security. Grayscales previously filed to convert its Ethereum Spot Trust into an ETF in October of last year. Other asset managers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and ArkInvest, are also preparing to launch ETH spot ETFs. The industry is expecting an ETH spot ETF to launch as early as May. In a report published on May 18, U.S. asset manager Bernstein said it expects the SEC to approve an ETH spot ETF as early as May and as late as this year. British investment bank Standard Chartered (SC) also said last month that it expects approval of an ETH spot ETF to come on May 23, when the first round of applications is due. Meanwhile, the SEC approved bitcoin spot ETFs for listing and trading on exchanges on May 10th. Following the decision, 11 bitcoin spot ETFs began trading on May 11th. They include BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, ARC Investments, Invesco, WisdomTree, Bitwise Asset Management, Valkyrie, and Grayscale Investments... -
Chinese Automaker Threatens Tesla's Dominance in 2023 Electric Vehicle Sales In 2023, 10 automakers accounted for more than 80% of global electric vehicle sales. Tesla, BYD, and Volkswagen Group accounted for 46% of all new registrations...
All content of Gangnam Times is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction, copying, distribution, etc. are prohibited.
© Copyright by Gangnam Times. All Rights Reserved.
Hot Topics