Table of Contents
Introduction
Staying informed about key events and trends is crucial in the fast-paced business world. As part of my commitment to keeping you up-to-date, I, Malika Singal, will provide a monthly roundup of major business news. These updates will give you a snapshot of what’s shaping the global business landscape, whether it’s significant mergers, technological innovations, or the latest startup developments. Here is a look at the highlights for the last 6 months.
Corporate Announcements
Mergers and Acquisitions
Microsoft: Acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion to enhance its gaming and metaverse capabilities. Source: Microsoft News
Adobe: Acquired Figma for $20 billion, strengthening its design and collaboration tools. Source: Adobe Blog
Salesforce: Purchased Slack for $27 billion, integrating it into its CRM offerings. Source: Salesforce News
Leadership Changes
Tesla: Announced Tom Zhu as the new global head of manufacturing. Source: Tesla News
IBM: Arvind Krishna continues as CEO, focusing on hybrid cloud and AI. Source: IBM News
Earnings Reports
Apple: Reported revenue of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago for Q3 2024. Source: Apple Q3 2024 Earnings Report
Netflix: Reported revenue of $9.56 billion for Q2 2024. Source: Netflix Q2 2024 Earnings Report
JPMorgan Chase: Achieved net income of $18.1 billion for Q2 2024, up 25%, including a $7.9 billion net gain related to Visa shares and a $1.0 billion donation of Visa shares to pre-fund contributions to the Firm’s Foundation. Source: JPMorgan Chase Q2 2024 Earnings Report
Amazon: Reported revenue of $148 billion for Q2 2024. Source: Amazon Q2 2024 Earnings Report
Technological Advancements
Innovations and Product Launches
Tesla: Tesla, the pioneering electric vehicle and clean energy company, has initiated the broad distribution of its latest Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, version 12.5, as announced by CEO Elon Musk. This development marks another step in Tesla’s ongoing efforts to achieve fully autonomous driving capabilities. Beta. Source: Tesla Blog
Samsung: Launched the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with enhanced features. This new model comes equipped with advanced AI features and enhanced performance capabilities, solidifying the company’s position at the forefront of the foldable phone market. Source: Samsung Newsroom
Google: Announced new AI-driven features in Google Search and Workspace. New features include AI Overviews, multistep reasoning capabilities, planning capabilities, AI-organized search results, and a new Google Lens ask with video feature. Source: Google AI Blog
Intel: Intel’s 15th-generation processors are set to offer improved performance and power efficiency. Up to 24-core models with advanced graphics integration will cater to high-performance computing needs. Source: Intel Newsroom
Tech Industry Developments
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Launched new AI and machine learning services for enterprise applications. Amazon Recognition is the AWS AI/ML service that can help. This tool can comb through terabytes of unstructured data and detect faces, objects, and other patterns. It also uses scalable deep learning technology so that it can improve over time. Source: AWS News
Meta (Facebook): Expanded its metaverse initiatives with updates to Horizon Workrooms. (Workrooms is an immersive virtual space where you and your team can work better together, from anywhere). Source: Meta News
Apple: Enhanced its AR capabilities with new developer tools for immersive experiences. Xcode Cloud will help developers build apps even faster, and new App Store features enable developers to reach more users. Source: Apple Developer News
Google: Made advancements in natural language processing with new AI models. The powerful pre-trained models of the Natural Language API empower developers to easily apply natural language understanding (NLU) to their applications with features including sentiment analysis, entity analysis, entity sentiment analysis, content classification, and syntax analysis. Source: Google AI Blog
Startups and Entrepreneurship
Funding Rounds from Mid-2024
Figma: In June 2024, Figma raised $200 million in a Series E funding round, led by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Source: TechCrunch
Databricks: Databricks secured $1.5 billion in a funding round in July 2024, led by new investor Mubadala Investment Company and existing investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global. Source: Business Insider
Plaid: In June 2024, Plaid raised $750 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst and Kleiner Perkins. Source: TechCrunch
Helion Energy: Helion Energy closed a $500 million funding round in July 2024, led by new investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures and existing investors like Founders Fund. Source: Forbes
Snyk: Snyk raised $300 million in a Series E funding round in June 2024, led by Coatue Management and existing investors like Accel and Bessemer Venture Partners. Source: TechCrunch
Outreach: Outreach closed a $200 million funding round in July 2024, led by Tiger Global and existing investors including Scale Ventures. Source: Business Insider
Trends in the Startup Ecosystem
The surge in investments in sustainability and green technology. Source: Forbes
Rapid growth in health tech startups, especially in telemedicine. Source: HealthTech Magazine
Rise of AI and machine learning startups. Source: TechCrunch
Expansion of digital transformation across multiple sectors. Source: McKinsey & Company
Success Stories and Challenges
Moderna: Received FDA approval for a promising new cancer treatment. Source: Moderna News
Challenges faced by startups in scaling and securing funding. Source: Crunchbase
The rise of Shein, a fast-fashion retailer, has dramatically reshaped the e-commerce landscape, particularly affecting industry stalwarts such as Amazon. Source: Forbes
Regulatory hurdles impacting fintech startups. Source: Financial Times
