(Bloomberg) -- Wirecard AG’s Chief Executive Officer Markus Braun has resigned after the German payments company disclosed 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of missing cash.James Freis has been appointed interim CEO, Wirecard said in a statement Friday. Freis was appointed as a member of the management board on Thursday.Braun’s exit comes after a catastrophic few days for Wirecard, which suffered a share price collapse after the two Asian banks that were supposed to be holding the missing cash denied any business relationship with the company.Wirecard is currently facing a potential cash crunch. The company warned Thursday that loans of up to 2 billion euros could be terminated if its audited annual report is not published on Friday. Analysts at Morgan Stanley estimated that Wirecard has available cash of around 220 million euros, if it cannot locate the missing $2.1 billion.Named CEO in 2002, Braun has put tens of millions of euros...
With the 5G revolution continuing and one of Ericsson's (NASDAQ:ERIC) major rivals badly wounded by President Donald Trump, now is a good time to buy ERIC stock.Source: rafapress / Shutterstock.com Additionally, Ericsson is the world's leader when it comes to providing 5G infrastructure, and the shares' valuation is quite reasonable. The 5G Revolution and a Rival's ProblemsLast month, Barron's noted that the 5G rollout was continuing despite the novel coronavirus crisis. Moreover, the well-respected publication identified "network infrastructure {companies that} will supply the next-generation antennas and base stations that power 5G networks" as "the best way to play the 5G rush."InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsNot surprisingly, Ericsson was included as one of the relevant network infrastructure companies. Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold told Barron's that Ericsson has better 5G technology than its Finnish rival, Nokia (NYSE:NOK), while Ericsson's execution is also superior to that of Nokia....
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) and JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) made record sales at the "618" shopping festival in China on Thursday, CNBC reported.What Happened JD.com reported a total transaction volume of $37.99 billion in the 24-hours of the festival, according to CNBC. This is a 33.6% increase over the approximately $28.5 billion total transaction volume reported last year.Alibaba reported a gross merchandise value, as it refers to the total sales across its e-commerce platforms, of $98.52 billion.618, celebrated on June 18, is one of the two major yearly shopping events promoted by the e-commerce companies, the other being Singles Day celebrated on November 11.Why It Matters The rise in 618 sales numbers for the two Chinese e-commerce behemoths suggests that consumer demand remains strong in the country despite the economic impact of the extended lockdowns implemented to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).Alibaba and JD.com had also...
The 15 Percent Pledge focuses on a tangible goal — getting big box stores to commit to dedicating 15% of its shelf space to black-owned businesses. The problem is getting black entrepreneurs to the level of scalability....
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity futures rose alongside global stocks on Friday as investors cheered the latest breakthrough in trade negotiations between America and China and the start of stimulus talks in Europe. Treasuries held recent gains.Contracts on the three main U.S. stock gauges advanced on reports that China plans to accelerate purchases of American farm goods to comply with the phase one trade deal following talks in Hawaii. In Europe, attention turned to negotiations over the EU’s proposed 750 billion-euro ($840 billion) program to help economies rebound from lockdowns, which sent the Stoxx 600 Index up as much as 1%. Wirecard AG shares bucked the trend, continuing their free-fall as the German payments company faced a potential cash crunch.After a brief swoon, equity markets are back in rally mode as investors bet that governments will be able to put their economies back on track with enough stimulus at their disposal. U.S....
(Bloomberg) -- The meltdown at Wirecard AG is raising questions about the company’s complicated relationship with the troubled SoftBank Group Corp.The Japanese conglomerate signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the payments firm last year and agreed to buy $1 billion of Wirecard convertible bonds, although that exposure was later cut through a complex transaction. This month, a partner at SoftBank’s investment arm was on track to become a supervisory board member at Wirecard.Then on Thursday, Wirecard revealed that auditors had been unable to find about 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in cash that was supposed to be held in Asian banks. The company suffered one of the worst stock slumps in the history of Germany’s benchmark index, then fell again sharply on Friday.The damage for SoftBank may be more to its reputation than its finances. The Japanese company last April unveiled a complicated transaction for about $1 billion in convertible bonds...
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revealed that the government has been working with Canadian tech giants Shopify (SHOP) and BlackBerry (BB) on a contact-tracing Covid-19 app to be launched early July.“It will be up to individual Canadians to decide whether to download the app or not, but the app will be most effective when as many people as possible have it,” Trudeau stated during Thursday’s daily briefing, as Covid-19 cases in Canada officially reached 100,000.He added that it would be ‘extraordinary useful’ if half of Canadians sign up. “There are over 30 million smartphones that could take this app in Canada, so we can talk about a significant portion of the Canadian population that could be protected by this app” the Prime Minister said.The app, named COVID Alert, will first be launched in Ontario, then rolled out to the rest of the country. Users voluntarily upload Covid-19 test results to the...
