Alibaba Intends To Take Over Youku Tudou

Alibaba Group has proposed to buy all the remaining shares of Youkou Tudou.

Alibaba is about to become the sole owner of the Chinese video company, Youku Tudou. The Hangzhou-based organization today proclaimed that it has made a non-binding offer to obtain all remaining  shares of Youku, including shares embodied by the American depositary shares – ‘ADS’ (each being a representative of 18 common shares) that it doesn’t currently possess for US$26.60 per ADS in all-cash deal.

The plan would succeed if the enterprise completes the required diligence and negotiates a jointly suitable conclusive takeover contract. In May 2014, the online trading giant made a primary tactical investment in Youku Tudou.

Alibaba news informed that it currently owns 18.3% of the remaining share capital of Youku-based on its public filings. Digital showbiz is a salient part of the Chinese e-commerce company’s plan to promote consumption of simulated goods and facilities. The offered deal would extend the current teamwork between the two businesses, and would integrate Alibaba’s unmatched information driven networks in online trading, promotion and media with Youku’s market-ruling digital video license to meaningfully speed up its expansion.

Alibaba news today reported that Youku Tudou’s huge customer base, particularly in mobile and its well-known networks with high user involvement, would establish one of the famous foundations of Alibaba’s digital show business policy. According to the e-commerce giant’s offer, Youku’s founder, Mr. Victor Koo, would endure to manage the enterprise as CEO and chairman.

Alibaba Breaking News affirmed that an official of Alibaba, Daniel Zhang, stated, "We are pleased to submit the proposal to the Youku board of directors, We believe that the proposed transaction, with tighter integration of our resources, will help Youku achieve exciting growth in the years ahead by leveraging Alibaba’s assets in living-room entertainment, e-commerce, advertising and data analytics.”

Alibaba’s executive vice chairman, Jack Ma, stated, “I’ve always admired what Victor has built, a closer partnership with Youku will give us the opportunity to support Victor and his leadership team to fulfill the dream of building the leading digital entertainment platform in China.”

Alibaba Group is formulating plan with the support of a number of Youku’s founders, including Chengwei Capital, Victor Koo, and associates. The Chinese video company stated that Mr. Victor has approved to pledge his stocks to the ecommerce platform and that its board would be forming a committee to discuss upon the proposal.

Youku Tudou’s market capitalization in the United States of America is $3,800,000,000, as of Thursday. Alibaba has disclosed its intent to acquire China’s leading online television network, which could enhance its image and credibility in the market.

Chinese market presents opportunities to business. Thus, organizations are striving to expand in the region. Alibaba also holds desires to grow beyond its core ecommerce functions. This deal would allow it to further progress in its endeavors.

AT&T Inc Earnings Review by Fargo

The wireless company is expected to report an EPS of 68 cents according to analysts at Fargo

AT&T Inc has prepared itself to report its quarterly earnings for the third one in the line and will do so in October 22 right after the market gets over its day’s trading activities. The telecommunication giant is all set to maintain its position on the index following the earnings report call, which is due to the efforts it has been doing in the business of the company to make things work out in a much more efficient manner. As for its users, the wireless giant is expected to report higher growth in the users belonging to not only the prepaid sector but also to the postpaid one.

AT&T stock was closely covered by the analysts at Fargo in which the wireless business was provided with estimates for the quarter along with a full year prediction for the stock. According to the analysis made, the giant is expected to report a revenue generation coming around at $151.3 billion for the quarter, and keeping in mind the previous estimates that were suggested by the same analysts at $152 billion, it shows that it is believed by the equity firm that things are going to be reported on a lower level now, on a quarter to quarter basis.

As for the EPS suggested by the analyst at Fargo, the estimations have seen a drop from 70 cents to now a 68 cents per share, which is apparently quite towards the lower side if compared to the predictions of analysts at WSJ, who have estimated an EPS of 69 cents. As for the total sales of the firm for the current quarter, the sales go to come around at $40.88 billion as per predictions. As for the free cash flow estimations, the analyst firm is expecting it to report a figure of $4.50 billion, which is much higher than the numbers that were suggested by the analysts at the WSJ, which has been noted down at $4.22 billion for the third consecutive fiscal quarter of the financial year.

As for the consensus estimates, around 18 analysts have provided the company with a buy rating whereas around 19 have suggested a ‘hold’ one. 

Should Slow Mac Sales Worry Apple Investors?

The software giant has been experiencing slower PC sales but analysts believe that is mainly because of the recent strength that the dollar has been showing

Apple Inc is believed to be experiencing some low figures as far as the sales of the Mac laptops and computers are concerned. The software giant will be reporting its sales for the quarter by the end of October and analysts are of the opinion that by the time the changes are announced, it is possible that the investors in the company turn out to be a little over to the disappointed side. As per records shown by equity firm IDC, it was seen that the delivery shipments of the Mac experienced a massive dip coming around at 3.4 percent. However, analysts at Gartner reported a lesser fall which was not down at 1.5 percent. Both these estimates could turn out to closer to the actual number that is going to be reported by the giant in a couple of weeks.

The slower growth in the shipments made for Apple Mac was mostly carried out due to the overall downgrade that was witnessed in the PC market all over the globe, and reports suggest that Apple business is not the only company to be going through the dip. Reports by the firms covering the stock of the giant also show that the downfall in the worldwide PC shipment came out to be around 10.8 percent, which has made the analysts still less bearish about the PC future of the Californian Company as compared to the others in the industry.

Another major factor that led to the drop in shipments was caused by the change in currency throughout the globe, as some changes occurred which led to the rise in the value of the dollar. In the second quarter of the year, the change in the dollar did not affect the demand much but since the value of the currency continued to increase even in the third quarter, this has majorly turned the demand of the PCs down which will be shown in the upcoming earnings report coming from the software giant. Furthermore, for all the software and tech companies who have or have not been selling PCs, the strength of the dollar has made negative effects too hard to ignore.

However, analysts still seem to be a little optimistic about the future of Apple stock, as it is believed by them the consumers at large are still looking towards buying PCs, rather than tablets. As per a research, that was carried out by analysts at Gartner. Around 50 percent opted to buy PCs while only 21 percent customers said they wanted tablets. 

Facebook Vice President Sold 1000 shares

The social media company was seen going through a big transaction of 1000 shares which were sold by the VP of the company in a transaction on October 13

Most recent news about Facebook Inc has come around to be of how a massive insider selling has taken place within the media firm in which the Vice President and General Secretary of the company, Colin Stretch, was seen to make a massive transaction of selling out the media giant’s shares at the stock market which caught the attention of the analysts considering the size of the transaction was quite a big one.

The transaction showed that Stretch sold around 1,000 Facebook shares on Tuesday, October 13, in which every single share was sold for a share price of $93.67. The total value received by the seller by the end of the trading session was considered to come around at $93,670.00. The details of the transaction were entered into a report with the Securities Exchange Commission. As per the rules of the authority, all the shareholders of the companies with more than ten percent of the share in the firm are bound to report the SEC the moment they go through an important buying or selling in the stock market.

As for the Facebook stock, its value has seen much volatility over the past 12 months, where the social media company has seen some highs and lows by 27.74 percent from the yearly price target that it has received from the consensus rating of analysts in the market. The giant has been reported a higher end share price since the commencement of July, whereas the share price touched the lowest price for the year, on October 15 around 12 months back. The share price has been moving along the lines of $90.77 for the past 50 days whereas the average for 200 days has come around to be at $86.90.

Analysts, however, are of the opinion that the shares of the social media platform have a capability of touching a share price of $113.42 in the near future if all works fine with the new plans that the media company is introducing every now and then to increase its yearly and quarterly revenue. Apart from that information, the highest point that has been that could be touched by the giant in the upcoming days could be a share price of $146 whereas the lowest could only touch $92. The expected difference to come between the actual price and the expected share price is predicted to come at $10 only. In the present times, the floating shares of the media company are around 20% that are held by people outside the giant.

Bank Of America Earnings Review

The Bank is expected to report an EPS of $0.33, which is lower than the EPS of $0.44 which was reported by the company in the previous quarter

Bank of America Corporation has scheduled for its earnings report to be released on October 14, and the investment firm has prepared itself for some positivity despite the bearish attitude of the investors that is commonly being seen in the market. The investors have turned negative towards Bank of America stock of the company due to many reasons, and most of them took place recently which changed the way they previously looked at the way the giant was carrying out its activities in the industry. The banking sector of the United States has fallen by some factors effecting the stable position they were in the past which has also brought a difference to the business of the company.

The major drawback that is being faced by the Bank is of the low interest which is being deemed as one of the reasons why the investment company is seen to be falling on the index. This is also because of the fact that interest on investment is what the bank earns from, and if that interest falls, it affects the revenue generation of the bank by a huge difference.

On the other hand, analysts who have been keeping an eye on the stock of the bank have emerged as quite bearish about the upcoming earnings report, while the future expectations show that the analysts are being more negative for the quarters to come in near future.

The EPS that is expected to be released by the Bank of America, according to the analysts of the Street, have come around $0.33 for the current quarter. This shows a dip of around $0.10, as the giant reported an EPS of $0.44 in the previous quarter of the year. The net income margin, however, has shown growth of 18 percent only, which is much lower than what was reported in the previous quarter.

Despite the problems the Bank has been facing for some time, analysts have turned around to be quite over to the positive side for the future of the business. Around forty analysts at Bloomberg sent out rankings for the bank in a poll, in which a majority of around 28 were seen to give it a ‘Buy’ rating, whereas nine of them ended up giving it a ‘Hold’ rating.

AT&T Introduces 4G LTE Service In Mexico

AT&T provides 4G long-term evolution service in Mexican cities.

AT&T has taken an initiative to please its Mexican users. As a part of the telecom giant’s plan to offer the next-generation mobile internet facility to 40,000,000 persons in Mexico by the later part of 2015, Nextel Mexico and Iusacell clients in six cities can currently browse, connect and download at higher speeds with the Dallas-based firm’s fourth generation long-term evolution network.

AT&T news affirmed that the new network automatically relieves customers for new prospects with the AT&T Unidos wireless proposals, which introduced in August and are offered at Unefon, lusacell, and New Mexico points of sales across Mexican. These newly introduced plans offer clients better benefits with additional megas, thousands of messages and minutes, limitless social networking facility and Prip radio, and an optional feature to extend those advantages when travelling to Canada and U.S.A.

AT&T news today exclaimed that an official of AT&T in the country, Thaddeus Arroyo, stated, "The mobile internet in the United States created an engine of economic growth, and we believe it will do the same here in Mexico. This next-generation, high-speed mobile network empowers consumers and businesses to reach a new potential as they explore, discover and try new things."

The company’s 4G long-term evolution service could be availed in a number of cities including Tulancingo, Pachuca, Tepeji, Atlacomulco, Cuautla, and Cuernavaca. AT&T Breaking News reported that the telecom giant would try to extend its 4G LTE network throughout the North American country, with proposals to serve 100,000,000 people by the end of 2018. However, it estimates to serve 75,000,000 people, almost 66.66% of the Mexican population, by the latter part of next year.

As part of the first stage of its plan to change the networking experience for clients in Mexico, Nextel and lusacell clients in the first six cities could now avail various benefits, such as faster responding time, as the LTE service is known for offering lower levels of dormancy that refers to the handling time taken to transfer data through a platform. This includes time consumed to download a file or webpage once a request has been made.

AT&T possesses a variety of 4G LTE gadgets in its portfolio and the capacity to transform the mobile experience through powerful modernization that could change user’s lives.

AT&T would revolutionize the telecom sector by creating more rivalry and establishing the new generation of mobile internet network in the country. It is quite likely that the organization’s measure would threaten its competitors in the modern world.

IBM To Bolster Artificial Intelligence Through New Unit

IBM's new department to bolster artificial intelligence and advise companies on using Watson artificial-intelligence software.

Stephen Pratt is all geared up to head the Cognitive Business Solutions at International Business Machines Corp. who was initially serving an Indian consulting company that outsource services known as “Infosys”. The company will have almost 2000 individuals onboard who will be responsible to offer advisory services to other companies so as to how they can take benefit of IBM’s Watson – the companies artificial intelligence software.

Virginia Rometty who is the chief executive officer of IBM is likely to make an announcement regarding the venture during the Gartner Symposium- a gathering that will host various executives of the Information Technology sector. The service for artificial intelligence was launched in FY11, which was designed in a manner to analyze huge quantities of data so that it can reveal those aspects that human, has not been able to decipher. So far, the software has been helpful to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, made the television show Jeopardy possible and assisted in making the recipe book.

IBM news affirmed that the company, at this point, is optimistic that the artificial intelligence software can play a significant role in shaping the digital assistance technology that is being used by various companies in the finance, medicine, and energy sector.

According to Bridget van Kralingen, the Vice President of IBM’s Global Business Services, mentioned during a telephonic interview, “We see that that is going mainstream.” He further added, “It’s very, very early days, but we can see it.”

At this point of time, the company is positive about the growth of this service in the times to come thus it has made an investment worth $1 billion. The company’s analytics business accounts for $17 billion and Watson constitutes a great chunk of it.

According to IBM news today, Mr. David Schubmehl, an analyst at the research company Data Corp., stated, “It’s not huge yet.” He further added, “It’s not doing hundreds of millions of dollars, but it is significant.”

The company’s service is one of a kind and opens a new canvas for the artificial intelligence sector. Watson is likely to assist hundreds of companies in the times to come thus establishing something of this nature is apparently a long-term asset for the company.

By investing in this venture, IBM is actually contributing to its long-term profitability and growth. The future will have a lot of artificial intelligence in almost all domains thus now the future seems relatively bright with the company’s contribution.