- AI chip startup Groq forms new business unit, acquires Definitive Intelligence TechCrunch
- The Mind-Blowing Experience of a Chatbot That Answers Instantly WIRED
- ‘Feels like magic!’: Groq’s ultrafast LPU could well be the first LLM-native processor — and its latest demo may well convince Nvidia and AMD to get out their checkbooks TechRadar
- Groq presents specialized language processing unit significantly faster than Nvidia’s AI accelerators Notebookcheck.net
- Meet Groq — the chip designed to run AI models really, really fast Tom’s Guide
Tag Archives: Acquires
Netflix Acquires Haynes’ “May December” – Dark Horizons
- Netflix Acquires Haynes’ “May December” Dark Horizons
- Netflix Lands Todd Haynes’ Buzzy Cannes Competition Film ‘May December’ In Splashy $11M North American Rights Deal Deadline
- Netflix Buys ‘May December,’ Starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, for $11 Million Following Buzzy Cannes Debut Variety
- Cannes: Netflix Takes Todd Haynes’ ‘May December,’ Starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore Hollywood Reporter
- Shock: Netflix Buys Todd Haynes’ ‘May/December’ — World of Reel Jordan Ruimy
- View Full Coverage on Google News
HYBE America Acquires Quality Control, Home to Lil Baby, Migos and City Girls, in $300 Million-Plus Deal Led by Scooter Braun – Variety
- HYBE America Acquires Quality Control, Home to Lil Baby, Migos and City Girls, in $300 Million-Plus Deal Led by Scooter Braun Variety
- Quality Control, Atlanta Rap Powerhouse, Sells to Scooter Braun’s Hybe The New York Times
- HYBE Acquires Quality Control, Label for Lil Baby, Migos, City Girls Billboard
- HYBE Makes Historic Key Acquisition to Merge with QC Media Holdings, Inc., The Parent Company of Pierre “P” Thomas and Kevin “Coach K” Lee Advancing HYBE’s Ambition to be the Leader in Global Entertainment PR Newswire
- HYBE buys QC Media, hip label and management company The Korea JoongAng Daily
- View Full Coverage on Google News
China acquires ‘golden shares’ in two Alibaba units
BEIJING, China, Jan 13 (Reuters) – China has acquired minority stakes with special rights in two domestic units of tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK), business registration records showed, as Beijing extends a campaign to strengthen control over online content.
Beijing has been taking ‘golden shares’ in private online media and content companies for more than five years, and in recent years expanding such arrangements to companies with vast troves of data.
The stakes taken over the last four months in the Alibaba units are the first ones to come to light for the e-commerce firm. Alibaba has been one of the most prominent targets of China’s two-year-long regulatory crackdown on tech giants.
These golden shares, typically equal to about 1% of a firm, are bought by government-backed funds or companies which gain board representation and/or veto rights for key business decisions.
Public business registration records showed that in September last year an investment vehicle of state-owned Zhejiang Media Group took a 1% stake in Alibaba’s Youku Film and Television unit, which is based in Shanghai.
Zhejiang Media Group has also appointed Jin Jun, the general manager of one of its subsidiaries, to the board of the Alibaba unit, the records showed.
[1/3] The logo of Alibaba Group is seen at its office in Beijing, China Jan. 5, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Separate business registration records showed that in December WangTouSuiCheng (Beijing), an entity under the China Internet Investment Fund (CIIF) set up by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), acquired a 1% stake in Alibaba unit Guangzhou Lujiao, whose main focus is “research and experimentation”.
The Financial Times, which first reported the WangTouSuiCheng investment on Friday, said the goal of the investment is for Beijing to tighten control over content at the e-commerce giant’s streaming video unit Youku and web browser UCWeb.
Alibaba didn’t respond to a request to comment.
The FT also reported, citing unidentified sources, that discussions was under way for the government to take golden shares in gaming giant Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) which would involve a stake in one of the group’s main subsidiaries. Tencent declined to comment.
Other firms that have such golden share arrangements include Full Truck Alliance Co (YMM.N), as well as mainland subsidiaries of TikTok owner ByteDance, Kuaishou Technology (1024.HK) and Weibo , Reuters previously reported.
Having such golden shares can be helpful to firms when they try to secure licences to disseminate online news and to show online visual and audio programmes, sources have told Reuters.
Reporting by Yingzhi Yang, Brenda Goh and Josh Horwitz; Additional reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and Mrinmay Dey; Editing by Uttaresh.V, Rashmi Aich and Kenneth Maxwell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Roquan Smith trade grades for Ravens, Bears: Baltimore acquires two-time All-Pro linebacker
The Baltimore Ravens are trading for Chicago Bears two-time All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith, CBS Sports NFL insiders Jonathan Jones and Josina Anderson have confirmed. The Bears will receive second and fifth-round picks, along with linebacker A.J. Klein, in return. Smith is the second high-profile defender dealt by the Bears in the last week — just ahead of the NFL trade deadline (4 p.m. ET Tuesday) — after Chicago traded edge rusher Robert Quinn to the Eagles.
Smith, the No. 8 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, has recorded 83 tackles, 2.5 sacks and two interceptions this season. Through four-plus seasons, the Georgia product has missed just four games. The former SEC Defensive Player of the Year has been a playmaker since arriving in the league, amassing over 600 tackles, 16.5 sacks, one forced fumble, seven interceptions and one touchdown.
The 25-year-old is in the final year of his rookie contract and is slated to become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Spotrac.com projects an average annual salary of $17.6 million, which would be the second-highest among active off-ball linebackers; a steep price to pay for the position.
When a question about the state of contract negotiations arose during the preseason, first-year general manager Ryan Poles said the following, via ChicagoBears.com:
“I think he’s a very good football player. I love the kid. I love what he’s done on the field, which makes me really disappointed with where we’re at right now. I thought we’d be in a better situation, to be completely honest with you…With that said, we can’t lose sight that this isn’t about one player. My job is to build a roster that’s going to sustain success for a long period of time. At the end of the day, we’ve got to do what’s best for the Chicago Bears.”
Baltimore is atop the AFC North standings with a 5-3 record. Smith joins a group that includes former first-round selection Patrick Queen, as well as Josh Bynes, A.J. Klein and Malik Harrison.
With Smith out of the picture, the Bears are left with young linebackers Sterling Weatherford and Jack Sanborn, as well as free agent signing Nicholas Morrow.
The Bears sent Quinn to Philadelphia last week in exchange for draft compensation. The news of Quinn’s trade was broken to the Smith during his own media availability, which brought on raw emotion. Poles is stocking up draft capital in his first year on the job. Chicago fell to 3-5 on the year with a loss to Dallas over the weekend.
Trade grades: Ravens B+, Bears B-
The Ravens are certainly getting a playmaker on a defense who has turned things around over the last few weeks. Smith leads the NFL with 83 tackles and always has a knack for finding the football, having two interceptions and 2.5 sacks on the year. Not only has Smith recorded double-digit tackles in all but two games this season, but he has 100-plus tackles in all four of his NFL seasons and his 246 tackles are the fourth-most in the NFL.
Josh Bynes has been reliable for the Ravens since his return last year, but Baltimore needs a playmaking linebacker at the MIKE to pair with Patrick Queen. Whether the Ravens can sign Smith to a long-term deal will validate this trade, but Baltimore is going for it.
As for the Bears, getting a second and fifth-round pick, along with Klein, is part of their rebuild. Chicago got three draft picks in return for Smith and Robert Quinn. They’ll have a first, two seconds, a third, two fourth, two fifth, and a seventh in the 2023 draft. The rebuild is on.
— Jeff Kerr
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Redditor acquires decommissioned Netflix cache server with 262TB of storage
Enlarge / An Open Connect Appliance server from around 2013 that a Redditor acquired.
A Reddit user named PoisonWaffe3 recently acquired a 2013-era Netflix cache server that had been pulled from service and wiped for disposal, which marks a rare occasion the public has been able to get a look at the mysterious hardware, Vice reports.
The decommissioned cache server—called an “Open Connect Appliance” (or OCA)—operated as part of Netflix’s Open Connect content delivery network. Open Connect is a network of servers around the world embedded with local ISPs that contain local copies of Netflix video content, accelerating the delivery of that content to Netflix viewers by putting it as close to the viewers as possible (both geographically and from a perspective of network hops).
Netflix provides plenty of high-level documentation about Open Connect on its website, but what isn’t widely known is what specific components make the Open Connect servers tick—especially one that is almost a decade old. After removing three screws, PoisonWaffle3 took a look inside their unit and discovered a “pretty standard” SuperMicro motherboard, an Intel Xeon CPU (E5 2650L v2), 64GB of DDR3 RAM, 36 7.2TB Western Digital hard disks (7,200 RPM), six 500GB Micron SSDs, a pair of 750-watt power supplies, and one quad-port 10-gigabit Ethernet NIC card. In total, the server contains “262TB of raw storage,” according to PoisonWaffle3.
PoisonWaffle3 acquired the bright red Netflix cache server because they work for an ISP that was pulling the devices out of service. “We are retiring/replacing quite a few 2013 era Netflix OCA caches, and I was offered one,” they wrote. “Of course, I couldn’t say no.”
The user originally sought advice on what to do with the OCA, and suggestions ranged from mining the Chia cryptocurrency (which benefits from lots of storage space) to running a Plex media streaming server. Originally, the OCA ran FreeBSD, but the server had been completely wiped as part of the decommissioning process. Instead, PoisonWaffle3 installed TrueNAS, an open source operating system designed specifically for network file storage applications. Whatever path PoisonWaffle3 takes with the hardware, 262TB is still a lot of storage for one person—even in 2022.
Interestingly, the now-defunct dial-up online service Prodigy used a local caching system to distribute data more efficiently using the same basic principle as Open Connect in the 1980s and ’90s. Instead of streaming video, that service merely served text data and vector graphic NAPLPS files. Times have changed, but we still want speedy data.
PlayStation Acquires Savage Game Studios, Focusing on Mobile Games
PlayStation has today announced its plan to acquire Savage Game Studios to bolster its mobile games development.
Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, made the announcement over on the PS Blog. If you don’t know the team, it’s a company comprising two European studios that make mobile games. Among its staff are veterans from big mobile developers such as Rovio, Zynga, Wargaming, and more. Hulst describes Savage as “a hugely talented team of creatives with many years of experience making some of the most popular mobile games enjoyed by players around the world”.
The acquisition will put this team within a newly established PlayStation Studios Mobile Division, “which will operate independently from our console development and focus on innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP”. Savage is already working on an “unannounced AAA mobile live service action game”.
We’ve heard in the past about how Sony wants to expand and strengthen its efforts in the mobile space, and this seems like its first meaningful push in that direction. Hulst assures that PlayStation Studios will still keep making “amazing single-player, narrative-driven experiences”, highlighting the handful of big first-party titles its published this year, like Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7. As with its PC ports, the company’s mobile output will be “similarly additive”, growing PlayStation’s reach beyond your PS5 or PS4 consoles.
Are you excited for Sony’s expansion into mobile games? Let us know in the comments section below.
D.C. United acquires Christian Benteke
“Christian is a top player who has played at the highest level for a long time,” said Rooney, who faced Benteke several times during his playing career with Manchester United and Everton. “His experience and ability to score goals and help the team will be invaluable. It’s exciting for the team and myself to get him in and playing. He will make a huge difference.”
Benteke, 31, will become the highest-paid player in club history, two people familiar with the terms said. His salary will surpass Rooney’s $3.5 million pact in 2019, his second and final season as a United player.
Benteke signed through the 2024 season, and the club holds an option for 2025.
He will fill United’s third and final slot for high-end designated players, joining Greek attacker Taxi Fountas and Icelandic defensive midfielder Victor Palsson.
United also paid an undisclosed transfer fee, estimated to be worth multimillions, to Crystal Palace, Benteke’s club the past six seasons.
He is not allowed to play in MLS until his work visa is approved, a process that typically takes at least two weeks, but he’s expected to visit Washington as early as next week to meet his new teammates, find housing and get acclimated to the weather.
“His strength and power will make him a focal point of our team and his ability to link up play will be a valuable asset to us,” United General Manager Lucy Rushton said in a statement. “We are excited to get Christian integrated with the team so he can make an immediate impact.”
Dave Kasper, United’s president of soccer operations, said in an interview the club began engaging with Benteke’s representatives seven to 10 days ago. At first, he said, the outlook seemed bleak because of high financial demands.
But Kasper said he worked closely with Benteke’s agent, Kismet Eris, and the respective owners negotiated the transfer fee and other considerations.
In addition, Kasper said, Rooney spoke to Benteke — an interaction that, although they didn’t know each other very well, helped move the process along. “That played a big role in bringing him to the club,” Kasper said.
In hiring Rooney last month, United was counting on the former English superstar using his status in the sport to help attract players to Washington.
Among Rooney’s top priorities was signing a big forward. United didn’t get anywhere with Luton Town’s 6-foot-4 Elijah Adebayo but traded with the Columbus Crew for 6-3 Miguel Berry and landed 6-2 Benteke.
Benteke was once one of the highest-valued strikers in Europe. Liverpool paid Aston Villa $51 million for the Belgian in 2015, and a year later, Palace acquired him from the Reds for $34 million.
His best season with Palace was his first, 2016-17, when he recorded 15 league goals. He scored 10 in 2020-21 but only four in 11 starts (25 appearances) last season. All those goals came last fall, and while Odsonne Édouard secured the starting job at striker, Benteke went scoreless in his last 13 appearances, mostly as a substitute.
In his 280-match Premier League career, he had 86 goals and 23 assists.
With the Belgian national team, Benteke has posted 18 goals in 45 matches, last appearing for FIFA’s second-ranked team in March. He has played in two European Championships.
Benteke is United’s last acquisition during the summer window, joining Berry, goalkeeper David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake), winger Martín Rodríguez (Altay, Turkey), attacking midfielder Ravel Morrison (Derby County, England) and defensive midfielder Palsson (Schalke, Germany).
Ochoa and Palsson have yet to make their debuts.
While Ochoa and Palsson promise to help the defensive cause, United did not address backline issues. The club (6-13-3) has conceded a league-worst 47 goals, and during Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat at Charlotte FC, center back Brendan Hines-Ike (20 starts) suffered a foot injury that’s expected to sideline him the rest of the season.
United lacks depth in every backline position. Sami Guediri, who began the year at second-division Loudoun United, has been starting at left back. Right back Andy Najar, a regular starter much of the year, has been relegated to a sub’s role under Rooney; Chris Odoi-Atsem has been starting.
Donovan Pines, who has struggled this season, and Tony Alfaro are the top options to replace Hines-Ike and partner with captain Steven Birnbaum in central defense.
Teams are allowed to sign domestic and international free agents until the roster freeze Sept. 2.
Benteke joins a crowded group of forwards. Berry and Ola Kamara have alternated as the starter at striker while Michael Estrada and Nigel Robertha haven’t even been in uniform lately.
Neither Kamara (seven goals and one assist in 20 appearances) nor Estrada (four goals and four assists in 16 games) is expected to return next season. Kamara’s $1.5 million contract expires this winter, and Estrada is on loan from Mexican club Toluca.
Amazon acquires Roomba-maker iRobot in $1.7 billion deal
The deal announced Friday also is a continuation of Amazon’s business strategy to expand market share in different product categories through acquisitions. It snapped up Ring, which makes video doorbells and other smart-home technology, in February 2018, and before that Blink, which makes connected cameras and doorbells for the home. It also stunned the grocery industry in 2017 when it announced the purchase of Whole Foods Market, a deal valued at $13.7 billion.
(Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
The move comes just two weeks after Amazon announced it would buy the primary care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion as part of a major expansion of the tech company’s health-care ambitions. The tie-up, one of its largest acquisitions ever, gives Amazon a physical network of health-care offices and providers and bolsters its existing health-care portfolio, which includes an online pharmacy and Amazon Care, a virtual and in-home urgent care service.
Amazon’s $61-a-share offer represents a 22 percent premium over Thursday’s closing price of $49.99. On Friday, iRobot stock surged nearly 19.1 percent to close at $59.54.
“We know that saving time matters, and chores take precious time that can be better spent doing something that customers love,” said Dave Limp, senior vice president of Amazon Devices. “Over many years, the iRobot team has proven its ability to reinvent how people clean with products that are incredibly practical and inventive.”
Founded in 1990 by roboticists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iRobot offers an array of automated vacuums and mops, as well as air purifiers and handheld vacuums. Its signature Roomba, which retails for as much as $1,000, learns the contours and corners of floors and can detect objects, offering connectivity to WiFi-networks and smartphones and can be summoned by voice-activated smart home devices. The company began trading on the Nasdaq in 2005.
While a top name in home robotics, iRobot has had a rocky year. On Friday, it reported second-quarter revenue of $255.4 million, a 30 percent drop from the year-ago period. It reported a net loss of $43.4 million for the three-month period ended July 2.
The company also plans to shift certain non-core engineering roles to lower-cost regions as part of a cost-reduction plan, and lay off 10 percent of its workforce, roughly 140 employees, according to the earnings report.
The company has withdrawn the 2022 financial forecast that it issued in May and, citing “ongoing disruptions and uncertainty that could impact the company’s outlook,” it suspended providing all other guidance about future performance.
iRobot’s products, which map out the floor plans of its customers’ most intimate spaces, will augment Amazon’s suite of products that function by surveilling the home, and the people inside of it.
What began as a microphone in a speaker has evolved into a growing genre of devices meant to make domestic life more enjoyable. Last September, at the company’s annual fall press event, Amazon unveiled a 15-inch wall-mounted version of its Echo Show screen that watches and listens to your home, and a number of other products and services that all monitor consumers in some way to anticipate their needs.
The growth of such technology highlights consumers’ increasing tolerance for sensors and cameras trained on their daily routines. That evolution has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and concerned consumers. It also underscores how tech giants view the home as yet another platform for an array of services and a goldmine of personal data.
Amazon will acquire iRobot’s net debt under the terms of the deal, which will require approval from regulators and the robot-maker’s shareholders. Colin Angle will stay on as iRobot’s chief executive.
Amazon shares fell 1.2 percent Friday to close at $140.80, giving it a market value of $1.4 trillion.
Last week, the Seattle-based giant reported its second consecutive quarterly loss — of $2.03 billion, or 20 cents per share — driven by a $3.9 billion write-down tied to its investment in electric vehicle start-up Rivian Automotive, the Associated Press reported. But Amazon also recorded a better-than-expected $121.2 billion in revenue during the second quarter.
Cygames acquires Metal Max IP from Kadokawa Games
Cygames [199 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/cygames”>Cygames has acquired the Metal Max [4 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/series/metal-max”>Metal Max intellectual property from Kadokawa Games [483 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/kadokawa-games”>Kadokawa Games, the company announced.
“Cygames has acquired Metal Max-related businesses from Kadokawa and Kadokawa Games,” reads the press release. “As a result, Cygames will take over the Metal Max series intellectual property and related assets. While future Metal Max series developments have yet to be determined, we are committed to creating a new future for the Metal Max series, which has over 30 years of history.”
Metal Max series creator Hiroshi Miyaoka will continue to work on the series as a director at Cygames.
In a statement, Miyaoka said, “Cygames has acquired the rights to Metal Max. I feel that this acquisition will be a great opportunity for the Metal Max series, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. As the original creator, I’d first like to thank Kadokawa and Kadokawa Games for their willingness to send [the series] off, and above all Cygames for welcoming it.”
Miyaoka continued, “As a director at Cygames, I, Hiroshi Miyaoka, will be working to reboot the Metal Max series in earnest. We’re currently in the wild ideas stage, but my hope is that the series is reborn in a way that will reach not only Metal Max fans, but the hearts of RPG [14,290 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/rpg”>RPG fans all over the world. Please look forward to it.”
Cygames producer Kenichiro Takaki [17 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/people/kenichiro-takaki”>Kenichiro Takaki added, “Metal Max is one of many wonderful games that mesmerized me in my student days. ‘The intellectual property that makes a name for itself in history will be loved and passed down from generation to generation.’ I feel that this is the challenge faced by the entire games industry, as well as the mission of Cygames, which strives to ‘create the best content.’ I’m incredibly honored to be involved with Metal Max, which fate has allowed me to encounter once again. The project to create the best console game starts now. Please look forward to it.”
Platforms and a release date for the new console game have yet to be announced. Visit the teaser website here.