Tesla has reported surging profits, despite shortages of semiconductor chips and congestion at ports hampering production. Sales rose to $12bn (£8.6bn) in the three months to the end of June, up from $6bn a year ago, when its US factory was shut down. The electric carmaker said it delivered a record 200,000 cars to customers in the same period. It added that public support for greener cars was greater than ever. The company, led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, reported on Monday that profits soared off the back of strong sales. Profits for the second three months of the year … Continue reading Tesla profit surge driven by record car deliveries

Shares in Indian food delivery app Zomato have soared by more than 80% in their stock market debut. The listing was pushed forward by four days and comes as India’s stock market nears all-time highs. The stellar performance reflected strong investor interest in internet-based start-ups that have done well during the pandemic. In the run up to the listing some analysts raised concerns about the high valuation of the loss-making business. Shares in the Ant Group backed app traded as high as 138.9 rupees each (£1.36; $1.87), valuing the company at about $12bn. Zomato’s share offering last week drew bids … Continue reading Shares of Zomato app soar 80% on market debut

Eric Yuan, founder and chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications Inc., center, reacts while ringing the opening bell during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 18, 2019. Zoom announced on Sunday that it’s buying Five9, a provider of cloud contact center software, in an all-stock transaction valuing the company at $14.7 billion. The deal marks Zoom’s first billion-dollar acquisition and comes as the company prepares for a post-pandemic world with employees returning to the office. It’s the second-biggest U.S. tech deal this year, behind Microsoft’s planned $16 billion purchase … Continue reading Zoom is buying cloud contact center provider Five9 for $14.7 billion

Italian luxury fashion group Ermenegildo Zegna has agreed to go public by combining with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the United States, giving the business an enterprise value of $3.2 billion, the Financial Times said on Monday. The family-owned fashion brand will raise $880 million by combining with a SPAC launched by European private equity group Investindustrial and chaired by former UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti, the report said. Under the terms of the deal, Zegna will sell a portion of their holdings and retain 62% of the combined company, which is being given an equity value of $2.5 … Continue reading Italian luxury fashion brand Zegna to go public in $3.2 billion deal

An American father and son have been sentenced for their role in ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan in 2019. The Tokyo court sentenced US Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor to two years in prison. His son Peter was handed a term of one year and eight months. The pair were extradited from the US over claims they smuggled Mr Ghosn out of Japan in a luggage box on a private jet as he awaited trial. Japanese prosecutors had been seeking prison terms of two years and 10 months for Michael Taylor and two years and six months for … Continue reading Father and son sentenced for helping ex-Nissan boss escape

An entire whisky distillery is being shipped out from Scotland to China on Friday. More than 35 tonnes of equipment, including stills, flooring, control valves and pipework, is leaving Buckie in Moray for the port of Tianjin. The equipment will be assembled at a facility being built in Inner Mongolia. The shipment is part of a £3m “design and build” deal signed between Forfar firm Valentine International and China’s Mengtai Group in 2019. The facility in Ordos will become Inner Mongolia’s first whisky distillery when it opens, probably at the end of this year. All of the distillery equipment was built by … Continue reading Amazing: Entire whisky distillery ships out to China

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has raised another $3.6bn (£2.6bn) ahead of an expected stock market debut. The Walmart-backed company said it will use the money to expand its operations and invest further in its grocery, fashion and delivery service. The latest round of fund-raising increased the firm’s value to $37.6bn. The new valuation is more than double the amount the American retail chain paid for a majority stake in Flipkart three years ago. Flipkart’s chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy said the new funds would support the company’s expansion plans: “As we serve our consumers, we will focus on accelerating growth for … Continue reading India online retail giant raises $3.6bn in latest funding round

Vauxhall owner Stellantis has said it will invest more than €30bn (£26bn) in electric vehicles between now and the end of 2021 It aims to make the total cost of owning an electric vehicle equal to that of a petrol-driven model by 2026. Stellantis said it would build at least five battery plants in Europe and the US to support its strategy. It has already announced two plants in France and Germany, and the third will be in Italy in Termoli. The world’s fourth-biggest car maker, which was formed in January from the merger of Italian-American firm Fiat Chrysler and … Continue reading Vauxhall owner Stellantis to invest €30bn in electric vehicles

Fifteen US states have dropped their opposition to a bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, clearing the way for a multi-billion dollar settlement. It marks the first step towards the OxyContin painkillers maker paying out $4.3bn (£3.1bn) to settle cases related to the opioid crisis. The New York attorney general said the funds would be used to “prevent any future devastation”. A total of 10 states still oppose the proposals of pharmaceutical giant. A spokesperson for Purdue Pharma said it would work to “build a greater consensus” for its bankruptcy plan. They added it would “transfer billions of dollars of value … Continue reading Purdue signs deal on opioid settlement with 15 states

Tech giant Samsung Electronics has said it expects its quarterly profit to rise by 53% amid a global chip shortage. The world’s biggest memory-chip and smartphone maker forecast operating profit of $11bn (£8bn) for the three months to the end of June. It said strong demand for memory chips had offset weaker sales of devices due to the shortage of components. A year ago, in the first few months of the pandemic, Samsung saw sales of products such as phones and TVs slump. Since then demand for electronics components has surged as people shifted more of their lives online, while … Continue reading Samsung forecasts 53% jump in quarterly profit amid global chip shortage

India has been hobbled by an economic slump and a brutal wave of coronavirus that new research shows pushed millions of people into poverty. But as these Indians struggle to live on a few dollars a day, the country’s ultra-wealthy have gotten even richer and more influential, as their combined fortunes have soared by tens of billions of dollars in the last year. Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the sprawling conglomerate Reliance Industries is now worth more than $80 billion, some $15 billion more than a year ago, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Not far behind him is Adani Group founder Gautam … Continue reading India’s billionaires Ambani and Adani got richer while coronavirus pushed millions into poverty

Private jets descended on Sun Valley in rural Idaho on Monday ahead of the annual ‘billionaire summer camp’ for tech and media moguls . The gathering brings together the worlds of film, technology, design and sports each year, although the event was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year, the five-day conference, held at the edge of Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest in a tiny town of just 1,500, is set to feature strict checks to ensure it does not become a super spreader event.   Those attending investment bank Allen & Co.’s annual conference will need to have been vaccinated and … Continue reading Money Meet Media: Private jets of media moguls arrive at Idaho ‘billionaire summer camp’