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Software Giant Salesforce in Advanced Talks to Buy Informatica

FILE PHOTO: A banner celebrating the Informatica IPO on the front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, October 27, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A banner celebrating the Informatica IPO on the front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, October 27, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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Software Giant Salesforce in Advanced Talks to Buy Informatica

FILE PHOTO: A banner celebrating the Informatica IPO on the front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, October 27, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A banner celebrating the Informatica IPO on the front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, October 27, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Customer relations software maker Salesforce is in advanced talks to acquire Informatica, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, in the latest sign of increased deal-making in the technology sector.
A deal could be announced soon, said the source, who requested anonymity as the discussions are confidential.
The price being discussed is below Informatica's current share price of $38.48, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the talks between Salesforce and Informatica.
Salesforce and Informatica did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Private equity firm Permira, which along with the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) holds a controlling stake of over 75% in Informatica, declined to comment. CPPIB could not be reached for comment.
Founded in 1993, Informatica offers subscription-based data management services over the cloud and also helps to automate tasks for more than 5,000 active customers.
Based in Redwood City, California, its customers include Unilever and Deloitte, according to its website.
Informatica's shares have risen nearly 43% so far this year, valuing the company at about $11.35 billion.
The company was taken private in 2015 for about $5.3 billion by a consortium that included Permira and CPPIB.
Six years later, Permira and CPPIB took Informatica public again and its shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
If the deal goes through, it would be the biggest for Salesforce since it acquired workplace messaging app Slack Technologies in 2020 for nearly $28 billion.
Salesforce's dealmaking strategy came under scrutiny in early 2023, when activist investors, including ValueAct Capital and Elliott Management, questioned the company's strategy and pushed the management for changes.
In response, Salesforce implemented cost-cutting and increased share buybacks. It also disbanded its M&A board committee.
Salesforce has been a prolific acquirer. In 2019, it bought data analytics platform Tableau Software in an all-stock deal valued at $15.7 billion.
As part of the current enthusiasm for artificial intelligence sweeping through the technology sector, several large deals have been signed.
In January, design software company Synopsys agreed to buy smaller rival Ansys for about $35 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise struck a deal in January to buy networking gear maker Juniper Networks for $14 billion.
Technology accounted for the largest share of merger and acquisitions during the first quarter, jumping more than 42% year-on-year to about $154 billion, according to Dealogic.

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Technology

Nigeria Court Rules Binance Executive Can Face Trial on Behalf of Crypto Exchange

Nigeria Court Rules Binance Executive Can Face Trial on Behalf of Crypto Exchange
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Nigeria Court Rules Binance Executive Can Face Trial on Behalf of Crypto Exchange

Nigeria Court Rules Binance Executive Can Face Trial on Behalf of Crypto Exchange

A Nigerian court on Friday ruled that Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan can stand trial on behalf of the cryptocurrency exchange in an ongoing tax evasion case.

Binance and executives Gambaryan, a US citizen and head of financial crimes compliance, and British-Kenyan national Nadeem Anjarwalla, a regional manager for Africa, face four counts of tax evasion.

In a separate case, they have also been charged with laundering more than $35 million and engaging in specialised financial activities without a licence. They have all pleaded not guilty to the money laundering charges.

Binance's lawyer declined to comment after Friday's court hearing. Gambaryan's lawyer also had no comment, Reuters reported.

Gambaryan remains in custody while Anjarwalla fled the country in March. Nigeria's security adviser's office has said it is working with Interpol to seek Anjarwalla's arrest.

The CEO of Binance has accused Nigeria of setting a dangerous precedent after its executives were invited to the African country in February for talks with authorities and then detained as part of a crackdown on crypto.

Binance itself has not been charged in the tax evasion case by Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which has said Gambaryan could face the charges on the exchange's behalf.

Gambaryan's lawyer has previously said Gambaryan was "neither a director, partner nor company secretary" and had no written instructions from Binance to face the charges on its behalf.

Judge Emeka Nwite ruled on Friday that Gambaryan should be served with the charges against Binance because he is the chief financial compliance officer of Binance and he was duly appointed to represent it in a meeting in Nigeria.

Gambaryan will be arraigned in court on Wednesday to take a plea on behalf of Binance.

Gambaryan's bail application in relation to the money laundering case was denied on Friday.

Nigeria has blamed Binance for its currency woes after cryptocurrency websites emerged as platforms of choice for trading the Nigerian naira currency, as the country grappled with chronic dollar shortages.

Technology

UK's CMA Rejects Probe into Microsoft-Mistral AI Tie-up

UK's CMA Rejects Probe into Microsoft-Mistral AI Tie-up
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UK's CMA Rejects Probe into Microsoft-Mistral AI Tie-up

UK's CMA Rejects Probe into Microsoft-Mistral AI Tie-up

Britain's competition watchdog said on Friday it would not investigate the partnership between Microsoft and Mistral AI, weeks after it invited views on the tie-up.

In February, Microsoft invested $16 million in Mistral AI, partnering to make the French start-up's artificial intelligence models available through its Azure platform. It has also invested in ChatGPT owner OpenAI.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the Mistral partnership did not qualify for investigation under Britain's merger regulations. "The CMA has considered information submitted by Microsoft and Mistral AI, together with feedback received in response to its invitation to comment," a CMA spokesperson said, Reuters reported.

"Based on the evidence, the CMA does not believe that Microsoft has acquired material influence over Mistral AI as a result of the partnership and therefore does not qualify for investigation."

The CMA in April sought comments on the partnership, as well as separate links between Microsoft and Inflection AI and a tie-up between Amazon and Anthropic.

A Microsoft spokesperson said: "Investment and partnership are essential to new players in the AI economy.

"We welcome the CMA's determination that our fractional investment and partnership with Mistral AI does not qualify as a merger or acquisition."

European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, who has been looking into Big Tech's partnerships with AI start-ups, met Mistral AI last month. "We need vibrant competition in AI, now," she wrote on X after the meeting.

Technology

Technology Leads European Shares Lower

Rate-sensitive technology and real estate were the worst-hit sectors, down 0.7% each. (File/AFP)
Rate-sensitive technology and real estate were the worst-hit sectors, down 0.7% each. (File/AFP)
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Technology Leads European Shares Lower

Rate-sensitive technology and real estate were the worst-hit sectors, down 0.7% each. (File/AFP)
Rate-sensitive technology and real estate were the worst-hit sectors, down 0.7% each. (File/AFP)

European shares kicked off Friday's trade on a weaker note, led by declines in technology and real-estate companies, as investors looked forward to euro zone inflation data for some clarity on the path for interest rate cuts beyond June.

The pan-European STOXX 600 dipped 0.2% as of 0715 GMT, but was on track for its second straight weekly advance owing to a robust corporate earnings season.

All eyes are on the final euro zone inflation reading later in the day, after a report showed European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel advocated caution about further rate cuts after a likely first one in June.

Rate-sensitive technology and real estate were the worst-hit sectors, down 0.7% each, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, personal and household goods led sectoral gains, with luxury group Richemont climbing 6% after quarterly results.

H&M rose 2.5% after RBC upgraded the fashion retailer to "outperform" from "sector perform".

French re-insurer Scor dropped 8.0% after first-quarter results.

Nibe lost 4.6% after Citigroup downgraded the Swedish heat-pump maker to "neutral" from "buy", while German utility E.ON lost 4.1% on trading ex-dividend.

Technology

CoreWeave Raises $7.5 billion Debt from Blackstone, Others

CoreWeave Raises $7.5 billion Debt from Blackstone, Others
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CoreWeave Raises $7.5 billion Debt from Blackstone, Others

CoreWeave Raises $7.5 billion Debt from Blackstone, Others

Specialized cloud services provider CoreWeave is raising $7.5 billion in debt from financiers led by Blackstone and Magnetar to expand its infrastructure to meet rising artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, it said on Friday.

The deal is one of the largest debt financing rounds for a startup and adds firepower to CoreWeave's balance sheet as it looks to expand its cloud computing services to more customers, Reuters reported.

The Nvidia-backed company has raised more than $12 billion in equity and debt investments over the past 12 months, including a $1.1 billion series C investment led by private equity firm Coatue earlier this month.

"The caliber of investors in this large debt financing round is a powerful testament to ... the insatiable market appetite for AI infrastructure," CEO and co-founder Michael Intrator said in a statement.

Coatue, Carlyle, CDPQ, DigitalBridge Credit, funds managed by BlackRock, Eldridge Industries and Great Elm Capital Corp were also part of CoreWeave's latest debt raise.

CoreWeave has seen a boost from businesses rapidly adopting generative AI technology. It has partnerships with AI startups and competing cloud providers to build clusters to power AI workloads.

Technology

Microsoft Offers Cloud Customers AMD Alternative to Nvidia AI Processors 

A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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Microsoft Offers Cloud Customers AMD Alternative to Nvidia AI Processors 

A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. (Reuters)

Microsoft said on Thursday it plans to offer its cloud computing customers a platform of AMD artificial intelligence chips that will compete with components made by Nvidia, with details to be given at its Build developer conference next week.

It will also launch a preview of new Cobalt 100 custom processors at the conference.

Microsoft's clusters of Advanced Micro Devices' flagship MI300X AI chips will be sold through its Azure cloud computing service. They will give its customers an alternative to Nvidia's H100 family of powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) which dominate the data center chip market for AI but can be hard to obtain due to high demand.

To build AI models or run applications, companies typically must string together - or cluster - multiple GPUs because the data and computation will not fit on a single processor.

AMD, which expects $4 billion in AI chip revenue this year, has said the chips are powerful enough to train and run large AI models.

As well as Nvidia's top-shelf AI chips, Microsoft's cloud computing unit sells access to its own in-house AI chips called Maia.

Separately, the Cobalt 100 processors Microsoft plans to preview next week offer 40% better performance over other processors based on Arm Holdings' technology, the company said. Snowflake and others have begun to use them.

The Cobalt chips, which were announced in November, are being tested to power Teams, Microsoft's messaging tool for businesses, and positioned to compete with the in-house Graviton CPUs made by Amazon.com.

Technology

Video Game Maker Ubisoft Swings to Full-Year Operating Profit on Record Bookings

A view of the Ubisoft Entertainment logo on a panel during a news conference at the company's headquarters in Saint-Mande, near Paris, France, September 8, 2022. (Reuters)
A view of the Ubisoft Entertainment logo on a panel during a news conference at the company's headquarters in Saint-Mande, near Paris, France, September 8, 2022. (Reuters)
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Video Game Maker Ubisoft Swings to Full-Year Operating Profit on Record Bookings

A view of the Ubisoft Entertainment logo on a panel during a news conference at the company's headquarters in Saint-Mande, near Paris, France, September 8, 2022. (Reuters)
A view of the Ubisoft Entertainment logo on a panel during a news conference at the company's headquarters in Saint-Mande, near Paris, France, September 8, 2022. (Reuters)

French video games group Ubisoft swung to an operating profit for its full-year to end-March, it said on Wednesday, as record bookings helped it reverse a year earlier loss of 500 million euros, its biggest ever.

Ubisoft's full-year net bookings jumped 33.5% to 2.31 billion euros, on a non-IFRS operating income of 401.5 million euros ($435.35 million).

"Our full-year 2024 results confirm that Ubisoft is back on track on its profitable growth trajectory, with record annual and fourth quarter net bookings", CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement.

During the year, the company reported strong growth in both the "Rainbow Six" and "Assassin's Creed" franchises as well as new releases, driving bookings up and compensating for the long-delayed "Skull & Bones" game.

"Skull & Bones", released in February, received poor review scores, among the lowest for any Ubisoft game and was not a big seller, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told Reuters.

Skull & Bones got off to a "slightly slower start than expected", Ubisoft CFO Frederick Duguet said during a call with journalists, adding that it still had the second-best daily playtime for a Ubisoft game.

The firm hopes to boost the game's audience and keep players engaged for longer in the first half of its financial year beginning April 1.

To address concerns from Britain's antitrust regulator regarding Microsoft's acquisition of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard, the latter agreed to sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft.

Ubisoft started receiving payments from Microsoft in the first three months of the year, which have already exceeded the company's initial investment of between 50 million-100 million euros, Duguet said on the call.

For the quarter to come, the company expects net bookings of around 275 million euros.

Technology

OpenAI Co-Founder Ilya Sutskever Departs ChatGPT Maker 

The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
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OpenAI Co-Founder Ilya Sutskever Departs ChatGPT Maker 

The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)

OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is leaving the startup at the center of today's artificial intelligence boom.

"OpenAI would not be what it is without him," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a message to the company, which OpenAI posted on its blog.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI makes the popular ChatGPT chatbot, which sparked a race among the world's largest tech companies for dominance in the emerging generative AI field.

Jakub Pachocki will be the company's new chief scientist, the company said on its blog.

Pachocki has previously served as OpenAI's director of research and led the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five.

"After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI," Sutskever said in a post on X.

Sutskever posted that he is working on a new project "that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time."

Sutskever played a key role in Altman's dramatic firing and rehiring in November last year. At the time, Sutskever was on the board of OpenAI and helped to orchestrate Altman's firing.

Days later, he reversed course, signing onto an employee letter demanding Altman's return and expressing regret for his "participation in the board's actions."

After Altman returned, Sutskever was removed from the board and his position at the company became unclear.

Sutskever's exit comes a day after the company said at an event on Monday that it would release a new AI model called GPT-4o, capable of realistic voice conversation and able to interact across texts and images.

Shortly after launching in late 2022, ChatGPT was called the fastest application ever to reach 100 million monthly active users. However, worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller-coaster ride in the past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to analytics firm Similarweb.

Sutskever has long been a prominent researcher in the AI field. Before founding OpenAI, he worked as a researcher at Google Brain, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford, according to his personal website. He started his career working with Geoffrey Hinton, one of the so-called "godfathers of AI".

Technology

Tesla is Sued Over Emissions from California Plant

FILE - A Model X sports-utility vehicle sits outside a Tesla store in Littleton, Colo., on June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - A Model X sports-utility vehicle sits outside a Tesla store in Littleton, Colo., on June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
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Tesla is Sued Over Emissions from California Plant

FILE - A Model X sports-utility vehicle sits outside a Tesla store in Littleton, Colo., on June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - A Model X sports-utility vehicle sits outside a Tesla store in Littleton, Colo., on June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Tesla has been sued by an environmental nonprofit that accused Elon Musk's electric car company of violating the federal Clean Air Act hundreds of times by letting its Fremont, California, plant emit harmful pollutants.

In a complaint filed on Monday, the Environmental Democracy Project said Tesla has since January 2021 exposed nearby residents and workers to excessive nitrogen oxides, arsenic, cadmium and other harmful chemicals, mainly through its paint shop operations.

The nonprofit wants an injunction to halt excess pollution, plus civil fines of up to $121,275 per day per violation of the Clean Air Act.

Tesla did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment, Reuters reported.

The lawsuit filed federal court in San Francisco adds to pressure on Tesla to improve air quality surrounding the Fremont plant, its main US factory.

On May 2, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District said it wanted an independent hearing board to order Tesla to reduce harmful emissions from its paint shop operations.

It said that Tesla's emissions abatement system breaks down "repeatedly," and the automaker has since 2019 racked up 112 notices of violation, each accounting for as much as 750 pounds of illegal air pollution.

In February, Tesla agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit by 25 California counties that claimed it mishandled hazardous waste at locations across the state.

The Environmental Democracy Project said it has authority to file a "citizen" lawsuit under the Clean Air Act because Tesla "has violated or in violation of conditions imposed by an operating permit for major sources of pollution."

Lawyers for the nonprofit did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.

The case is Environmental Democracy Project v Tesla Inc et al, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 24-02888.

Technology

Amazon’s Cloud Unit CEO Adam Selipsky to Step Down, Matt Garman to Take His Place

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Boves, France, May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Boves, France, May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
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Amazon’s Cloud Unit CEO Adam Selipsky to Step Down, Matt Garman to Take His Place

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Boves, France, May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Boves, France, May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

The chief executive of Amazon.com's cloud unit Amazon Web Services, Adam Selipsky, is stepping down, the company said on Tuesday.

Amazon.com's shares fell 1% in early trading.

Senior Vice President Matt Garman will take on Selipsky's role at AWS, effective June 3, the firm said, Reuters reported.

Over two stints, Selipsky has spent 14 years at AWS.

He was the CEO of Tableau Software from 2016 to 2021.

Technology

OpenAI Unveils New AI Model as Competition Heats Up 

The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
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OpenAI Unveils New AI Model as Competition Heats Up 

The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (AP)

ChatGPT maker OpenAI said on Monday it would release a new AI model called GPT-4o, capable of realistic voice conversation and able to interact across text and image, its latest move to stay ahead in a race to dominate the emerging technology.

New audio capabilities enable users to speak to ChatGPT and obtain real-time responses with no delay, as well as interrupt ChatGPT while it is speaking, both hallmarks of realistic conversations that AI voice assistants have found challenging, the OpenAI researchers showed at a livestream event.

"It feels like AI from the movies ... Talking to a computer has never felt really natural for me; now it does," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a blog post.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI faces growing competition and pressure to expand the user base of ChatGPT, its popular chatbot product that wowed the world with its ability to produce human-like written content and top-notch software code.

At the livestream event, OpenAI researchers showed off ChatGPT's new voice assistant capabilities. In one demo, ChatGPT used its vision and voice capabilities to talk a researcher through solving a math equation on a sheet of paper.

In another demo, researchers showed the GPT-4o model's capability of real-time language translation.

OpenAI's demonstrations verged on science-fiction, with ChatGPT and its interlocutor at one point engaging in coquettish banter. The OpenAI researcher told the chatbot he was in a great mood because he was demonstrating "how useful and amazing you are."

ChatGPT responded: "Oh stop it! You're making me blush!"

Altman posted on X after the demo, "her," in what appeared to be a reference to the so named 2013 film by Spike Jonze about a man falling in love with his AI assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, said at the event that the new model would be offered for free because it is more cost-effective than the company's previous models. Paid users of GPT-4o will have greater capacity limits than the company's free users, she said. The GPT-4o model will be available in ChatGPT over the next few weeks, the company said.

In addition, free ChatGPT users now have access to a "browse" feature that enables ChatGPT to display up-to-date information from the web, Murati told Reuters after the event. The company does not intend to make money off free users through selling ads, Murati said.

Shortly after launching in late 2022, ChatGPT was called the fastest application ever to reach 100 million monthly active users. However, worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller-coaster ride in the past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to analytics firm Similarweb.

OpenAI made the announcements a day before Alphabet is scheduled to hold its annual Google developers' conference, where it is expected to show off its own new AI-related features. Reuters reported last week that OpenAI planned to announce an AI-powered search product, citing sources. But the company decided to delay the search product announcement, according to one source familiar with the matter.

Shares of Alphabet were down 0.4% on Monday afternoon, after falling nearly 3% earlier in the day. Microsoft shares were down 0.2%.