COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF
Mastercard blocks financial institutions
Mastercard Inc said late on Monday it had blocked multiple financial institutions from its payment network as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Mastercard will continue to work with regulators in coming days, the company said in a statement. It also promised to contribute a US$2 million for humanitarian relief.
Separately, Visa Inc said in a statement that it is taking action to ensure compliance with sanctions and would also comply with any additional sanctions that may be implemented.
On Saturday, the United States and its allies said they would take action against Russia's central bank and bar some of the country's banks from the SWIFT international payments system.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation".
Russians rushed to ATMs and waited in long queues on Sunday amid concerns that bank cards may cease to function, or that banks would limit cash withdrawals after Western sanctions. -Reuters
Zoom forecasts profit below estimates
Zoom Video Communications Inc forecast full-year revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates on Monday, signalling a hit from tough competition and lower sign-ups for its core Meetings platform.
The video conferencing platform, which derives a large portion of its revenue from smaller organizations, has been hit by slowing growth as schools and workplaces reopen, as well as competition from Cisco's conferencing tool Webex, Microsoft's Teams and Salesforce's Slack.
However, Zoom said it would continue to focus on expanding internationally to boost growth.
"The one silver lining from the guidance is there is some implied acceleration in the second half of the fiscal 2023, which suggests that growth rates will trough before reaccelerating," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria.
"The outlook isn't as bad as it looks, especially given how beaten down the stock is."
Shares of Zoom, which have fallen more than 30% this year, rose 4.4% to US$130.99 in extended trading as the company's board authorized a stock repurchase program of up to US$1 billion. -Reuters
Toyota to restart Japan production
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp said it will restart domestic production from Wednesday, a day after all of its factories nationwide ground to a halt following a cyberattack at a parts supplier.
Production lines will be switched back on at its 14 factories across the country, Toyota said in a statement. Tuesday's suspension hit output of around 13 000 vehicles, sparking concern about the robustness of cybersecurity in Japan Inc's extensive supply chain.
The issue has emerged as a key area of concern in Japan, where government critics say responses have been hampered by a fractured approach to dealing with hacking threats.
Toyota supplier Kojima Industries Corp, which provides plastic parts and electronic components to the automaker, said it had discovered an error at one of its file servers on Saturday night. After rebooting the server, it confirmed it had been infected with a virus, and found a threatening message, it said in a separate statement.
The message was written in English, a Kojima spokesperson told Reuters, but declined to give further details. -Reuters
Lucid cuts 2022 production goal
Luxury electric car maker Lucid Group on Monday revised down its production forecast for this year due to "extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges," knocking its shares down 14%.
Electric vehicle start-ups like Rivian Automotive and Lordstown Motors, which have raised money in public listings, have fallen short of their own production targets. read more
In late October, Lucid started deliveries of its US$169 000 Lucid Air premium electric sedans, which have an estimated driving range of 835 km per change, a longer range than rival Tesla.
The California-based start-up delivered 125 cars to customers last year, falling short of its 2021 production target of 577 vehicles.
Lucid expects to produce 12 000 to 14 000 vehicles this year, down from its previous goal of 20 000, it said in a statement.
The company posted a net loss of US$1.05 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, more than triple its loss from a year earlier. -Reuters
Toshiba CEO resigns
Toshiba Corp said on Tuesday Chief Executive Satoshi Tsunakawa is resigning - a sudden departure that comes after sources said internal opposition to the industrial conglomerate's controversial restructuring plans grew.
Toshhiba's shares surged 3% on what was seen as a significant changing of the guard among management. Senior executive Taro Shimada, a former Siemens AG executive, who only joined in 2018, will become the new interim head of the company effective Tuesday.
Toshiba's initial plan to split the conglomerate into three had been much criticised by foreign hedge fund shareholders.
But a revised plan last month that called for a breakup into two companies and the sale of other businesses also met with opposition from within the company, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.
Asked about internal opposition, Toshiba said it firmly believes its announced reorganization plan is the best option for the company but declined to comment further. -Reuters
Mastercard Inc said late on Monday it had blocked multiple financial institutions from its payment network as a result of sanctions imposed on Russia over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Mastercard will continue to work with regulators in coming days, the company said in a statement. It also promised to contribute a US$2 million for humanitarian relief.
Separately, Visa Inc said in a statement that it is taking action to ensure compliance with sanctions and would also comply with any additional sanctions that may be implemented.
On Saturday, the United States and its allies said they would take action against Russia's central bank and bar some of the country's banks from the SWIFT international payments system.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation".
Russians rushed to ATMs and waited in long queues on Sunday amid concerns that bank cards may cease to function, or that banks would limit cash withdrawals after Western sanctions. -Reuters
Zoom forecasts profit below estimates
Zoom Video Communications Inc forecast full-year revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates on Monday, signalling a hit from tough competition and lower sign-ups for its core Meetings platform.
The video conferencing platform, which derives a large portion of its revenue from smaller organizations, has been hit by slowing growth as schools and workplaces reopen, as well as competition from Cisco's conferencing tool Webex, Microsoft's Teams and Salesforce's Slack.
However, Zoom said it would continue to focus on expanding internationally to boost growth.
"The one silver lining from the guidance is there is some implied acceleration in the second half of the fiscal 2023, which suggests that growth rates will trough before reaccelerating," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria.
"The outlook isn't as bad as it looks, especially given how beaten down the stock is."
Shares of Zoom, which have fallen more than 30% this year, rose 4.4% to US$130.99 in extended trading as the company's board authorized a stock repurchase program of up to US$1 billion. -Reuters
Toyota to restart Japan production
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp said it will restart domestic production from Wednesday, a day after all of its factories nationwide ground to a halt following a cyberattack at a parts supplier.
Production lines will be switched back on at its 14 factories across the country, Toyota said in a statement. Tuesday's suspension hit output of around 13 000 vehicles, sparking concern about the robustness of cybersecurity in Japan Inc's extensive supply chain.
The issue has emerged as a key area of concern in Japan, where government critics say responses have been hampered by a fractured approach to dealing with hacking threats.
Toyota supplier Kojima Industries Corp, which provides plastic parts and electronic components to the automaker, said it had discovered an error at one of its file servers on Saturday night. After rebooting the server, it confirmed it had been infected with a virus, and found a threatening message, it said in a separate statement.
The message was written in English, a Kojima spokesperson told Reuters, but declined to give further details. -Reuters
Lucid cuts 2022 production goal
Luxury electric car maker Lucid Group on Monday revised down its production forecast for this year due to "extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges," knocking its shares down 14%.
Electric vehicle start-ups like Rivian Automotive and Lordstown Motors, which have raised money in public listings, have fallen short of their own production targets. read more
In late October, Lucid started deliveries of its US$169 000 Lucid Air premium electric sedans, which have an estimated driving range of 835 km per change, a longer range than rival Tesla.
The California-based start-up delivered 125 cars to customers last year, falling short of its 2021 production target of 577 vehicles.
Lucid expects to produce 12 000 to 14 000 vehicles this year, down from its previous goal of 20 000, it said in a statement.
The company posted a net loss of US$1.05 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, more than triple its loss from a year earlier. -Reuters
Toshiba CEO resigns
Toshiba Corp said on Tuesday Chief Executive Satoshi Tsunakawa is resigning - a sudden departure that comes after sources said internal opposition to the industrial conglomerate's controversial restructuring plans grew.
Toshhiba's shares surged 3% on what was seen as a significant changing of the guard among management. Senior executive Taro Shimada, a former Siemens AG executive, who only joined in 2018, will become the new interim head of the company effective Tuesday.
Toshiba's initial plan to split the conglomerate into three had been much criticised by foreign hedge fund shareholders.
But a revised plan last month that called for a breakup into two companies and the sale of other businesses also met with opposition from within the company, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.
Asked about internal opposition, Toshiba said it firmly believes its announced reorganization plan is the best option for the company but declined to comment further. -Reuters
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