H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 March 2019) – It’s Not Enough to Be Right-You Also Have to Be Kind

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 March 2019) – It’s Not Enough to Be Right-You Also Have to Be Kind; Takedowns and clever quips are easy, but empathy and persuasion are better

Companies

• Kakao acquires 28.9% stake in Tidesquare (Investor)
• GIS to ramp up in-display fingerprint sensor shipments to Samsung starting 2Q19 (Digitimes)
• VGI and AnyMind Group sign tech partnership (NM)
• Nearmap Aerial Imagery Helps Elite Grounds Achieve Ground-Breaking Increases in Accuracy and Productivity (BW)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Samsung, Softbank

• Alibaba to run its entire business on the cloud (Technode); Alibaba to step up cloud computing expansion amid growing global demand (SCMP)
• Fliggy, the online travel platform owned by Alibaba, launches its own shopping portal (KRA)
• Tencent to begin closed beta for cloud gaming service Start (Technode, KRA)
• Tencent to cut reliance on China gaming after profit hit (Reuters); Tencent loses steam as new growth engines struggle to take off; Asia’s once-most-valuable tech company suffers steepest profit drop in 14 years (Nikkei); Relax, Things Really Aren’t So Bad at Tencent; Management trimmed its marketing budget, and games monetization is back. That’s good news, really. (Bloomberg); Why Tencent Missed the Mark on Profit by Most in a Decade (Bloomberg)
• Clouded vision: Masayoshi Son prepares to unleash his second $100bn tech fund; Volatility in tech stocks, the Khashoggi scandal and frictions over governance have changed the mood around the Vision Fund (Economist)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Apple TV App To Get A Second Life With Video Subscription Service (Forbes)
• Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Facebook (Bloomberg)
• Google’s new gaming service will let game makers use rival clouds, executive says (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Wave of layoffs washes over China’s tech giants; Mass demotion at Tencent follows job cuts at JD.com and NetEase (Nikkei)
• The China Tech Bubble Is Dead. Long Live the China Tech Bubble; Offshore private equity funds struggled to compete with a wave of onshore money. Now it’s retreating, and the water looks more inviting. (Bloomberg)
• World’s Biggest AI Startup Exploring Cars, Global Expansion (Bloomberg)
• Chinese smartphone firms jazz up products, seize turf in home market from Apple (Reuters)
• China’s auto, internet giants set up 9.76 billion yuan fund to invest in ride-sharing industry (Reuters)
• Meet TikTok, the social media your kids are watching (AFR)
• Chinese e-commerce platform Little Red Book upgrades its brand partner platform (KRA)
• Race is on for tech companies like Grab, Ant Financial to gain an edge in SE Asia’s financial services market (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Robotics process automation startup UiPath raising $400M at more than $7B valuation (TC)
• Rent the Runway hits a $1 billion valuation (TC)
• Big banks are using AI to keep out of trouble (CNN)
• Doctor App Babylon Health Offers Quick Appointments, But Grapples With Follow-Up Care For Mental Health (Forbes)
• Square Stock Is a Buy Because Its Cash App Will Grow, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
• Spotify enters high-stakes licensing talks with music industry; Universal, Sony and Warner control two-thirds of streaming service’s catalogue (FT)
• Someone Else Is Making Money on Your Online Returns (Bloomberg)
• Scientists reveal ancient social networks using AI-and x-rays (Wired)

Life

• Why book value has lost its meaning: The trouble with intangibles (Economist)
• It’s Not Enough to Be Right-You Also Have to Be Kind; Takedowns and clever quips are easy, but empathy and persuasion are better (Ryan Holiday)