Game streaming 🎮
TikTok marriage, CEO change, and more venture deals.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Stock summary: 😍
US - S&P 500 - up 0.36%
India - Sensex - up 2.03%
Jabbing immigrant workers, again. 🙁
Trump’s latest executive order bans technology workers on H-1B visas from replacing American citizens in Federal Government Contracts.
This order came after a federal corporation, Tennessee Valley Authorities, said that it is looking to outsource 20% of its tech jobs to companies based in foreign countries and according to the order around 200 American workers will lose their jobs in the next 5 years.
Trumps ban also claims outsourcing workers unconditionally to handle sensitive information poses a national security risk and will be detrimental to hundreds of American workers during the pandemic, warning companies to be careful. Read more.
Game streaming moves 🎮
Microsoft will launch its most awaited cloud gaming service xCloud on September 15, bundled as part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The move is set to take some fizz out of Sony’s PS5 launch.
To bring you up to speed, cloud gaming is essentially the next frontier of gaming, where you can stream games on your TV or any other device just like you stream Netflix or a video service, without the need for a game console or the burden to download games. We wrote about why cloud gaming is such a huge deal a while ago.
Especially with the lockdowns, a lot of people are turning to gaming to pass time, increasing penetration of the entertainment channel beyond just hard core gamers. As a result, investors have begun showing a lot of interest in the space.
Anyway, moving to Microsoft, some 100+ games will the available directly at launch through the service, including big names like Destiny 2, Gears of War 5, Grounded, Halo 5, Minecraft Dungeons and upcoming title Tell Me Why.
Microsoft also unveiled a range of hardware including dedicated controllers and accessories for cloud gaming, with some that will work standalone and some with a smartphone. Read more.
TikTok’s arranged marriage attracts more suitors 🤝
Microsoft’s talks with TikTok continue to stretch out as both sides are negotiating hard. Adding fuel to the fire, Trump yesterday mentioned that the US treasury will ask for a piece of the transaction for its coffers. Begani shaadi mein abdullah deewana.🕺
Then later last evening another rumor broke out that Apple is reportedly in talks with TikTok to outbid Microsoft and buy the company. Apple definitely has strategic interests here, as TikTok is immensely popular in the US among young affluent kids, who also buy a LOT of iPhones. TikTok also fits well with Apple’s Clips.
However, Apple is not known to make splashy buys of this size. So we’ll see how that plays out. The Donald however has made it very clear that he’s banning the company in the US by September 15 unless a deal is put on his desk to sign off on. *Grabs popcorn*
Lastly, China’s state owned media is lambasting the US for what it's doing to TikTok.
Ford’s leadership change 🚗
The legendary Ford Motor Company today announced a change of leadership, with its CEO Jim Hackett departing after his attempts to turn the company’s stock around did not work out well. He will be replaced by current COO Jim Farley.
CEO Jim Hackett was hired to lead a $11 Billion restructuring effort at the company, which would’ve saved the company over $25 Billion in costs, making it future proof. Hackett did an amazing job including making bold investments in futuristic technology such as investing $500 Million in Rivian an electric truck company, investing $1B in Argo AI to make autonomous cars etc. However, the efforts failed to enthuse investors and stock has been consistently on a decline since 2017.
For the last half-decade, old car companies have struggled with competition from ride hailers as well as upstart electric vehicles like Tesla and the others. However, massive scale and streamlined operations are on their side and it remains to be seen how they orchestrate a comeback. Read more.
In other similar news,
HDFC bank, one of the hallmarks of the India’s growth story over the past couple decades, has appointed a new CEO, elevating insider Sashidhar Jagdishan to fill the shoes of esteemed leader Aditya Puri. 👏
Aditya Puri oversaw HDFC’s growth from a less known entity to a national behemoth, financing the boom of the nation for the past two decades, and delivering over 25,000% returns to shareholders over his tenure. His age had investors worried about the succession but Jagdishan seems to have been viewed positively.
Jagdishan had joined the bank 24 years ago as a manager, and rose up to the ranks to be CFO and now group head of HR, Finances and other verticals. RBI has approved his appointment and market expectations are set even higher. Read more.
Desi TikTok’s capital raise and others 🙌
Local TikTok replacement Bolo Indya has raised $300K in a round led by Eagle10 Ventures, India Accelerator Group, with other high net worth individuals participating. The company's total raise is now up to $500K.
The new funds will be used to enhance personalization and beef up their recommendation engine. The team also hopes to improve regional language content and add to headcount. So far the platform has pretty strong momentum, with 4 Million monthly users and over 15 lakh videos being created on a daily basis.
In other fundraising news;
A video analytics platform Wobot intelligence, that allows enterprises to mine CCTV footage to detect anomalies in operations and standard operating procedures, has raised an undisclosed sum in a pre-series A round from Sequoia India. The startup plans on using the funds to expand operations globally and scale its platform.
Another HR analytics SaaS company, inFeedo, has raised $700K from YCombinator along with other investors, topping $200K it had raised before from Angels. The platform’s AI chatbots help HR measure employee engagement and organizational sentiment. Congos to all! 🍻
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
📦 New face of commerce - Flipkart is rolling out dark stores or outlets which will be used only for deliveries to the nearby locations in metros, as it readies to compete in hyperlocal commerce. Just last week it was planning to launch Flipkart quick which provides customers delivery in 2 hours.
🤑 Adani wants debt laden HDIL - Adani properties and 5 other players have shown interest in acquiring Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd., as the company undergoes an insolvency resolution process (bankruptcy). HDIL and its promoters are in the soup for non payment of debt obligations.
🐦 FTC takes on Twitter - the regulatory body is probing Twitter for alleged violations of a law that prevents the social network from using personal data provided for security purposes to target ads. Twitter said it estimates probable loss of between $150 million and $250 million in settlement charges.
📱 Whatsapp Pay a step closer - NCPI has conveyed to the RBI that Whatsapp has complied with most data localization parameters that were needed before it could launch its payment services in the country, bringing the company one step closer to its eventual launch.
⚔️ The tech war is slowly brewing - an AI company in China known as Xiao-i, has filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc, alleging it has infringed its patents about some voice recognition technology. The slew of allegations come in light of a brewing tech war between the two countries. The company is asking for over a billion in damages and demands that Apple cease the manufacturing or selling of products using the patent.
🤞 Article 370 anniversary - a curfew has been imposed across the valley as authorities suspect plans of violent protests in the region on the first anniversary of revocation of J&K's special status. Police and CRPF personnel were deployed in strength across the valley.
✈️ Indigo runs a student rescue mission - IndiGo said that it operated a passenger charter flight from Moscow to Amritsar to Kochi, bringing back a total of 212 Indians from the Russian capital. The passengers who were mostly students flew home by the chartered flight with the assistance of embassies of both countries.
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