Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
The next time you pack your bags at the supermarket checkout, give yourself a small pat on the back. A task which is so simple for humans - quickly and efficiently packing a bag of groceries of different sizes and shapes without crushing anything - is something that until recently has been beyond the abilities of robots. It requires vision systems to locate the produce, a flexible and strong hand to grab items and a sophisticated artificial intelligence which knows that a carton of eggs should not be stacked under a four-pint bottle of milk. It is a problem that James Matthews, the chief executive of Ocado Technology (part of the Ocado Group) is wrestling with in the warehouses that handle online orders. The company has a sophisticated warehouse in Erith in east London, which is already highly automated.
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
The video game industry has notched record spending and profit in 2020, but to sustain its growth, it must prepare to compete with the return of concerts, movie theaters and live sports. Gamers worldwide are expected to spend a record $175 billion on software alone in 2020, according to Newzoo, a gaming analytics firm, up from $146 billion a year ago. In the United States, gamers spent $33.7 billion across hardware, accessories and content through September, according to the NPD Group. And Piers Harding-Rolls, a research director at Ampere Analysis, an analytics firm in London, projected that Sony would sell 8.5 million PS5s and Microsoft would sell 6.5 million of the Xbox Series X and the smaller, cheaper Series S through March.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/technology/ps5-xbox-pandemic.html
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
Emirates carried 1.5 million passengers between April 1 and September 30, 2020, down 95 per cent from the same period last year Dubai’s Emirates Group reported a 2020-21 half-year net loss of Dhs14.1bn, down from a net profit of Dhs1.2bn recorded during the same period last year. This marks the group’s first half-year loss in over 30 years. The group’s revenue, however, totaled Dhs13.7bn for the first six months of 2020-21, down 74 per cent from Dhs53.3bn reported during a year-earlier period. The revenue decline was due to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic which brought global air passenger travel to a halt for many weeks as countries closed their borders and imposed travel restrictions. Emirates and dnata’s hub in Dubai also suspended scheduled passenger flights for eight weeks during April and May this year, as part of the pandemic containment measures.
Source: https://gulfbusiness.com/dubais-emirates-group-reports-first-half-year-loss-in-over-30-years/
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street's biggest names, is letting in more female partners along with minorities. The investment bank says almost half of its new partners will come from diverse backgrounds. Goldman Sachs has frequently come under fire for its "boys' club" mentality, promoting mostly white men to senior roles. Wall Street's most exclusive clubs. Goldman's partners collectively own a small stake in the firm and get a pay rise to a basic salary of $950,000 (£724,000). On top of this, they also get exclusive access to the bank's private investment funds and a share of future profits from them.
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
Ferrari NV unveiled a drop-top version of its debut plug-in hybrid, the second of what will be a series of electrified models from the Italian supercar maker. The SF90 Spider will match the 986 horsepower of its coupe counterpart, the SF90 Stradale, which debuted last year. Pricing in Italy starts at 473,000 euros ($559,000) and deliveries will begin in the second quarter of 2021.The convertible is the second model Ferrari has taken the wraps off since the pandemic temporarily closed much of the company’s operations. Chief Executive Officer Louis Camilleri has said that while the disruption forced the delay of certain models by three to nine months, orders in October were up some 30% from monthly intake seen in the first quarter and essentially in line with the end of last year.
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
DoorDash, the on-demand food delivery company, is preparing to go public at a time when its services are in high demand due to the ongoing pandemic. The 7-year-old company made public its initial public offering paperwork on Friday, revealing that it has generated $1.9 billion in revenue in the first nine months of this year, ending in September. During that time, it incurred losses of $149 million. During the same period in 2019 it lost $533 million. However, during the second quarter of this year, amid the pandemic, DoorDash generated a profit of $23 million. DoorDash said it will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DASH. Founded in 2013 by a group of Stanford students as a way to help local businesses with their delivery needs, DoorDash has gone on to raise $2.5 billion to date and was most recently valued at $16 billion.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/13/tech/doordash-ipo-paperwork/index.html
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
Tunisian businesswoman Iman Chaabane quit her high-flying corporate career in order to make a more meaningful societal impact, launching an e-commerce platform that champions local artisans and makers of all-natural goods. Now stocking 360 items spanning organic food, cosmetics and personal grooming products, sales at Little Jenaina have soared since the coronavirus pandemic began, as movement restrictions spur Tunisians to try online shopping. “E-commerce in penetration was very low, but since the lockdown started we’ve seen a big increase in demand and in April we doubled our sales,” said Chaabane, who also works as a consultant after many years as a chief financial officer and accounts auditor.
Source: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1759366/business-economy
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
Uber's food delivery business has more than doubled, as the pandemic increases appetite for online grocery orders and restaurant takeaway. The firm said revenue from its Uber Eats service hit $1.4bn (£1bn) in the three months to 30 September, jumping 124% from the same period in 2019. The growth helped offset steep declines in the firm's core rides business. But Uber still recorded a loss of about $1.1bn in the quarter, roughly the same as last year. Uber boss Dara Khosrowshahi said demand for food delivery has stayed strong even as countries lift restrictions, a promising sign for growth in the Uber Eats business.
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
Air France KLM Group has opened its new regional headquarters in Dubai Airport Free zone as the carrier comes under renewed pressure from a resurgent coronavirus pandemic. The Air France KLM team relocated to the new offices in Dubai Airport Free zone which have been designed to support the group’s sustainability goals. “This announcement comes as part of the efforts and incentive packages provided by the emirate to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic through a highly flexible approach,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority. “This strategy has helped ensure business continuity and growth and accelerate recovery to the next stage, especially within the aviation sector, which has been affected by the global restrictions and measures that were applied at the beginning of the pandemic.”
Source: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1759866/business-economy
Dr. Ajith Kumar V.V
Noble Group Holdings Ltd., the commodity trader shrunken by years of losses and a multibillion dollar restructuring, has paid $20 million to former Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Leiman. The payment to Leiman, who left the company in 2011 -- several years before its 2018 restructuring was disclosed in a presentation accompanying Noble’s third-quarter results on Friday. It followed a long legal battle concluded in May, when Singapore’s Court of Appeal ruled that Noble had deprived Leiman of entitlements including the right to exercise share options when he left.