—— Google Revenue Beats Expectations, Stock Rises; CATL Profit Surges 63%; Amazon Lowers iRobot Acquisition Offer; San Francisco Office Demand Rebounds; UPS Reaches Labor Deal to Avert Strike; LeBron’s Son Suffers Cardiac Arrest; Microsoft Cloud Growth Slows
1. Google’s Revenue Beats Expectations, Stock Rises
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, released its Q2 earnings after the market closed today.
Revenue before partner payments reached $62 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $60.2 billion. Advertising revenue hit $42.6 billion, also beating estimates.
Over the past few quarters, social media platforms like Meta and Snap have suffered from weaker ad spending, but Google appears to have weathered the storm.
Additionally, Google’s search engine continues to fend off Microsoft’s strong challenge. The company’s chatbot Bard has yet to enter public testing.
After hours, Google’s stock rose more than 7%.
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2. CATL’s Profit Surges 63%
Chinese battery manufacturer CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) reported a 63% surge in net profit to 10.9 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) for the three months ended June, driven by booming global EV sales and the recovery of battery material supply chains.
CATL’s revenue jumped 56% to 100 billion yuan last quarter, with both revenue and profit beating analysts’ expectations.
For the first five months of 2023, CATL’s global market share reached 36.3%, up 1.7% year-over-year. Its gross margin rose to 21.6%, up 3% from the same period last year.
Tesla, CATL’s largest client, accounted for 12% of total revenue.
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3. Amazon Lowers Offer for iRobot
According to a statement from robotic vacuum maker iRobot, the company recently secured a $200 million operating loan from Carlyle Group.
This week, Amazon, which plans to acquire iRobot, announced it would lower its offer from $61 to $51.75 per share. Following the news, iRobot’s stock dropped 8.9% to $42.73 at today’s open.
Amazon announced its plan to acquire iRobot in August 2022, but the deal has faced antitrust scrutiny from both the FTC and European regulators.
Carlyle’s private credit division provided the $200 million loan, with a floating rate currently around 14%.
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4. San Francisco Office Demand Rebounds
Real estate tech firm VTS reported that San Francisco’s office space demand rose 10% quarter-over-quarter in Q2 — a rare bright spot for landlords.
Since March, many tenants have been seeking office spaces of over 50,000 square feet. VTS CEO Nick Romito said much of the new demand is coming from AI-related companies.
According to Kastle Systems’ keycard swipe data, San Francisco office utilization rates during workdays are still less than half of pre-pandemic levels, with many employees continuing to work remotely.
The surge in demand for large office spaces is a positive sign.
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5. UPS Reaches Tentative Labor Deal to Avert Strike
UPS (United Parcel Service Inc.) announced it has reached a tentative labor agreement with the Teamsters union, averting a large-scale strike scheduled for next week.
Next month, the 340,000 UPS employees represented by Teamsters will vote on the new contract.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said both sides are generally satisfied with the new agreement.
Under the deal, workers could see $30 billion in new wages and benefits over the next five years.
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6. LeBron’s Son Suffers Cardiac Arrest
On Monday morning, NBA star LeBron James’ eldest son, Bronny James, suffered cardiac arrest during USC basketball practice.
Medical staff said Bronny was immediately taken to a local hospital and is now in stable condition.
A year ago, USC freshman Vincent Iwuchukwu also collapsed on court due to cardiac arrest but returned to play later that season.
The James family expressed gratitude to medical staff and asked for privacy.
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7. Microsoft’s Cloud Growth Slows
After markets closed, Microsoft posted a mixed fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report, mainly due to slowing demand for cloud computing services.
Revenue rose 8% to $56.2 billion for the quarter ended June 30, but Azure cloud service revenue growth slowed to 27%, down from 31% in the previous quarter.
CEO Satya Nadella announced several AI software products based on OpenAI models but has not yet made them widely available.
Sales of Azure services and Office applications slowed, while PC sales have been declining for six straight months.
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This content is sourced from Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Real Deal, among other financial news outlets.