30 Dec, 2021
Ad rates to gain from Beijing Olympics; SenseTime shares rise in trading debut
TOP NEWS IN TECH
* Global advertising spend is expected to grow by about 10% in 2022 as the industry recovered from pandemic-induced declines. The growth is slower than the record gains seen in 2021, but is still strong by historical standards. The 2022 ad cycle stands to benefit from major sporting events, including the Beijing Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup from Qatar.
* Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime Group Inc. made its trading debut Dec. 30, raising $744 million, even though it was placed on the U.S. blacklist. The company's stock opened 1.6% higher and gained 23% from its IPO price of HK$3.85, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
* A look at job postings shows enterprises are not the only ones struggling to find employees right now. Amazon Web Services Inc. is looking to fill over 24,000 positions, according to its website. The issue of hiring woes came up in the latest round of quarterly earnings calls for the major "hyperscale" cloud providers, which include Microsoft Corp. and Google LLC.
TECH POLICY AND REGULATION
* Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s Riot Games Inc. reached an agreement with California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and current and former female employees, to settle workplace gender discrimination and harassment charges for $100 million, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
* China's competition regulator cleared Intel Corp.'s sale of its flash-memory chip business to South Korea's SK hynix Inc. for $9 billion, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The deal, struck between the companies over a year ago, received approval in eight jurisdictions.
TECHNOLOGY
* A cybersecurity partnership between China and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Alibaba Cloud Computing Co. was suspended following delays by the latter in flagging a global software vulnerability, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The Chinese technology ministry said its cooperation with the cloud computing company will be halted for a period of six months, during which time, the company's corrective measures will be assessed before a possible resumption of cooperation.
* Following the expiry of a 180-day lockup period after an IPO in June, Chinese ride-hailing company DiDi Global Inc.'s shares, held by backers SoftBank Group Corp. and Uber Technologies Inc., as well as other investors, were freed up Dec. 27, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Meanwhile, the company moved to prevent its staff from selling their stock, with the restriction expected to be in place until the company's shares are listed in Hong Kong.
MEDIA AND STREAMING
* Beijing ByteDance Telecommunications Co. Ltd.'s TikTok Inc. was the world's most-visited site on the internet in 2021, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing Cloudflare Inc. Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC, which includes its search function, maps, language translation and other services, was No. 2 on the list, followed by Meta Platforms Inc.'s Facebook.
* The Asia-Pacific region is driving growth for streaming services with viewers in Australia, the U.K., U.S. and Europe accepting more non-English content. Meanwhile, the South Korean streaming market is becoming increasingly competitive among global streaming platforms due to its high-quality content and low production costs, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. intends to buy a 50,000-square-meter commercial center in St. Petersburg, Russia, for 5 billion Russian rubles, Telecompaper reported, citing Kommersant. The Chinese communications equipment manufacturer plans to set up a research and development facility in the business center.
* New Zealand telecom services provider Spark New Zealand Ltd. entered into a conditional agreement to buy back 50% of the shares in Connect 8 Ltd. from electricity distribution company Electra Ltd.
* Veon Ltd. named Axiata Group Bhd. executive Mohammad Khairil Abdullah as CEO of VEON Ventures, effective March 1, 2022.
GAMING
* Finnish game developer Remedy Entertainment Oyj inked a global development, license and distribution deal with China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. for a cooperative multiplayer game codenamed Vanguard. The deal also granted Tencent a global license to develop and publish a mobile version of the game.