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WSJ: Toshiba Buys Back Shares From Dell, Apple

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WSJ: Toshiba Buys Back Shares From Dell, Apple

Last June Toshiba Memory Corporation (TMC) was acquired by a consortium lead by Bain Capital. Now the Wall Street Journal reports Toshiba sets to buy back the storage unit from the companies making said consortium.

The consortium includes Apple and Dell, as well as storage rivals Kingston and Seagate. According to the unnamed WSJ sources, the companies plan to sell their shares back to Toshiba for around 500 billion yen (or $4.5bn) in a deal set to be completed by end May 2019. Funding the buyback are Japanese banks with a loan worth around $11.8bn. Bain Capital is not selling its shares, and as such remains a majority owner of TMC.

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Sony and Microsoft Team Up in Cloud Gaming

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Sony and Microsoft Team Up in Cloud Gaming

The news of a pair of arch-rivals joining forces always brings about some measure of surprise, if not shock-- and such is the case of announcement of Sony and Microsoft entering a "strategic partnership" in cloud-based gaming solutions.

The agreement will not only have the two companies working together on game and content streaming services based on the Microsoft Azure cloud, but Sony will also "explore" hosting streaming services on Azure datacentres. The result, Microsoft and Sony say, will "deliver more enhanced entertainment experiences for worldwide customers," as well as bring about better development platforms for content creators.

In addition, Sony and Microsoft are set to collaborate in the areas of semiconductors and AI. This includes the potential combination of Sony image sensors and Microsoft Azure AI technology, as well as the incorporation of the Microsoft AI platform in Sony consumer products.

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In Quest for Buyer, TiVo Splits Up

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In Quest for Buyer, TiVo Splits Up

TiVo, one of the earlier makers of DVRs, announces plans to split up-- forming separate product and IP licensing units-- as part of an effort to become more attractive to potential buyers.

“Operating independently, these 2 businesses will have increased flexibility to pursue new and growing market opportunities," the company says. "We believe this separation is the best way to maximise shareholder value, while also enhancing the possibility of value-creating strategic transactions."

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Services Drive Apple Q2 Results

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Services Drive Apple Q2 Results

The Apple financial report for fiscal Q2 2019 marks a shift in priorities for the company-- it makes no mention of iPhone sales, instead concentrating on the growth of the company's services wing.

As such, Apple revenues for the quarter total $58 billion, a decline of -5% Y-o-Y, with profits reaching $11.6bn. Gross margin clocks at 37.6%, compared to 38.3% in Q1 2018, and international sales account for 61% of revenue. The company gives no iPhone or iPad sales number, instead simply stating services revenues (covering App Store, iCloud, Apple Pay and AppleCare, among others) reach an all-time high of $11.5bn.

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Intel Faces Flat Results in Q1 2019

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Intel Faces Flat Results in Q1 2019

Intel reports earnings worth $16.1 billion in Q1 2019-- an essentially flat result on a Y-o-Y basis, with data-centric revenues dropping by -5% Y-o-Y and PC-centric revenues growing by 4% Y-o-Y.

"Results for Q1 2019 were slightly higher than our January expectations," Bob Swan says in his first earnings call as permanent Chipzilla CEO. "We shipped a strong mix of high-performance products and continued spending discipline while ramping 10nm and managing a challenging NAND pricing environment."

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Intel Launches 9th Gen Intel Core Mobile Processors

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Intel Launches 9th Gen Intel Core Mobile Processors

Intel announces the 9th generation of Core mobile H-series processors-- the "most powerful" generation of laptop chipsets from the company yet, offering up to 8 cores and 16 threads with clock speeds of 5GHz.

“Our new 9th Gen platform is designed to delight gamers, creators and performance users by giving them more of what they want," Chipzilla says. "We are bringing desktop-caliber performance with up to 5Ghz and 8 cores in a range of thinner systems and new level of connectivity with Wifi 6 (Gig+) so users can game or create where they want.”

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Apple and Qualcomm Kiss and Make Up

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Apple and Qualcomm Kiss and Make Up

The legal battle over patent licensing going on between Apple and Qualcomm since January 2017 comes to a close, as the two companies drop all litigation in favour of a 6-year license agreement and a "multi-year" supply of wireless chips.

The two companies do not reveal what brought the sudden end to the bitter feud, especially since yet another round of court litigation had just started earlier this week. It is probable both Apple and Qualcomm simply tired of spending on corporate and legal maneuvering, as until now neither of the two budged on their position on iPhone patent royalties.

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Foxconn Chairman Steps Down

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Foxconn Chairman Steps Down

Terry Gou, founder of Taiwanese assembly giant Foxconn, announces plans to step down as chairman in order to "pave the way for younger talent to move up the company's ranks," Reuter reports.

Foxconn is nothing less than the largest contract manufacturer in the world, making a change in leadership a tricky situation at best. Making the situation arguably worse is a current attempt at cutting reliance on Apple, since currently the iPhone maker is looking to diversify its supplier base as smartphone sales plateau.

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Samsung Faces Lowest Quarterly Results Yet

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Samsung Faces Lowest Quarterly Results Yet

Samsung is heading towards the lowest quarterly profit in over 2 years, as drops in memory prices and display panel sales, not to mention smartphone woes, lead to operating profits sliding by -60% Y-o-Y in Q1 2019.

The S. Korean giant predicts Q1 2019 revenues will reach 51-53 trillion Korean won ($44.87-$46.63 billion), a drop of around -15% Y-o-Y. In turn, profit is forecast to reach around 6.2tr won ($5.5bn), missing analyst estimates of 6.8tr won. The company had already warned of disappointing results for the quarter, the result of falling memory prices and slowing demand for display panels.

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