Activision acquisition: The Sony vs. Microsoft saga
Our news digest for this week is picking up on a rather interesting note – the Sony v. Microsoft Activision acquisition saga.
For a while now, we’ve been hit with a dispute between Microsoft and other game brands, particularly Sony, over the planned takeover of Activision Blizzard. Now, the arguments of the associated companies have been disclosed.
Microsoft is facing a dismay with its planned acquisition of Activision and is in awe of a deal with the cartel authorities. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are yet to have an agreed deal in three major regions, the US, the EU, and the United Kingdom. Everywhere the transaction has passed the final stage of a thorough investigation, there is no guarantee that it will be approved.
Sony has tried to capitalize on this by attempting to prevent the deal, irrespective of the exclusivity of the popular Call of Duty shooter. While the purchase of six million dollars has already been completed in Saudi Arabia and Brazil, Sony is now stating a short-term statement to the Competition and Markets Authority that the deal will damage competition, market participants, innovation and end customers.
On another interesting note, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, and has plans to block it. According to Politico, there are just two people who are familiar with this issue, and they reported that the FTC will try to block the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard and to file an antitrust lawsuit by December.
Interesting times that we live in!
Google plans to cut 10,000 jobs
While tech companies like Meta Inc., Twitter and Salesforce have been in the headlines for layoffs lately, there’s one Bay Area tech giant we haven’t heard about cutting jobs.
However, it appears like that’s about to change.
Google is planning on laying off about 6% of its workforce, which is about 10,000 people, for “underperformance”.
The search engine giant is implementing a new performance management system. According to the reports, this could enable managers to start getting rid of underperforming employees from 2023. The system could also be leveraged as a means to avoid paying employees bonuses and stock grants.
This news succeeds a $391m privacy settlement that Google incurred to settle allegations about how it collects data from users.
The technology giant tracked the location of users who opted out of location services on their devices. Google has been told to be transparent about location tracking in the future and develop a web page telling people about the data it collects.
Till today, it is the largest privacy-related multi-state settlement in US history.
AWS and HKSTP launch “Idea Launcher” Co-ideation Initiative
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) this week jointly launched the “Idea Launcher “.
The co-ideation initiative is meant to foster and accelerate innovation and technology development in Hong Kong through extensive support, mentoring and coaching to help early-stage startups nurture innovative ideas and research projects.
This is another strategic addition to HKTSP’s co-incubation mission with sector leaders, with the HKSTP-AWS Idea Launcher being the first partnership with a corporate leader under HKSTP’s IDEATION Programme . AWS will work hand-in-hand with HKSTP to specifically support the development of early-stage ideas from emerging startups and next-generation entrepreneurs.
Prodapt wins the Prestigious Salesforce Partner Innovation Award 2022
Prodapt, a leading global consulting, technology and managed services provider with a singular focus on the Connectedness industry, has been named a recipient of the Salesforce Partner Innovation Award in the Communications category.
The prestigious award recognizes Prodapt’s contributions to Salesforce-driven digital transformation programs and the development of specific solution accelerators for the communications industry.
Prodapt tendered its nomination for the CRM transformation of Fiber Network Delivery to support multiple new operating models. The award affirms Prodapt’s continuous efforts in delivering value to its global clients by accelerating its transformation initiatives.
Zoom introduces new productivity tools
In other news, Zoom announced the next step in their platform evolution this week.
They introduced the beta of new productivity tools: Zoom Mail and Calendar Clients and Zoom Mail and Calendar Services.
These new products work together with the communication and collaboration offerings already available within Zoom Meetings, Phone, Whiteboard, and Team Chat. Now, teams can move quickly and seamlessly from email to a video meeting, elevate a chat message to a phone call, collaborate on projects, and early next year, they can share out whiteboards, all without ever leaving the Zoom app.
Intuit renews NFL Partnership through 2026
Another interesting news, particularly for those who double as fans of the NFL.
The National Football League (NFL) and Intuit, the global financial technology platform this week announced that it has expanded its official partnership in a four-year renewal deal through 2026.
As the official financial and accounting software sponsor for the NFL since 2019, Intuit’s sponsorship now includes additional brands and business categories that support its evolving business. As a part of the sponsorship, Intuit TurboTax will continue to be the presenting sponsor of both the AFC and NFC Divisional games and the AFC and NFC Championship Games for the 2022 NFL season.
M-Files announces enhanced integration with Adobe Acrobat Sign
M-Files has announced this week a new introduction of an enhanced integration with Adobe that will make Adobe Acrobat Sign now available directly within the M-Files metadata-driven document management platform.
Heads up!
Collect e-signature and prepare documents using Adobe Sign. Read our Adobe Sign review to learn more about the product.
According to the company, the improved integration offers customers seamless access to Adobe Acrobat Sign, allowing for automated, instant signatures, without a separate e-signature service contract and deployment from Adobe.
The new M-Files for Adobe Acrobat Sign E-Signature Package utilizes webhook technology for real-time signature process updates between M-Files and Adobe. If further provides support for M-Files mission to deliver better customer experiences and higher-quality work with lower risk, the company states.
Kaleyra expands integrations to include Shopify, HubSpot and more
Lastly on your news digest this week, Kaleyra, an omni-channel business communications platform announced it is rapidly expanding its integration portfolio to include partnerships with Shopify, Hubspot, CleverTap, Zoho, and WooCommerce.
Kaleyra, which is one of Juniper’s top five global CPaaS leaders, is now working towards an enterprise business that continues to focus on digital transformation. Integrations play an integral role in driving collaboration and business alignment.
Kaleyra’s SMS integrations allow businesses to start conversations with customers at scale using SMS messaging directly from their favorite software platforms, making it easier for them to launch and manage customized messages and re-usable templates to send promos, reminders and more all working to enhance the overall customer experience.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for rocking with us!