More Netflix originals; Avast hacked; Apple manufacturing in India

Netflix is raising another US$2 billion in debt to fund additional content creation and other expenses, the company announced on Monday. The company routinely raises debt to help fuel its growing library of original TV shows and movies. The streaming giant offered US$2 billion in new debt in April after issuing another round of notes several months earlier. Netflix said it plans to use the proceeds to fund "Content acquisitions, production and development, capital expenditures, investments, working capital and potential acquisitions and strategic transactions.". We’re unsurprised and anticipate the competition will also up their game to capture market share – all the better for the localisation market.

Cloudflare prices above range; Virtual wall maker new unicorn; High speed 5G gaming

Cloudflare, a California-based digital content delivery and Internet security company, raised its IPO price range this morning from a prior $10 to $12 interval to $12 to $14 per share. At its new prices, Cloudflare would be valued between $3.5 billion and $4.1 billion. Cloudflare's maximum IPO fund raise is now $563.5 million. Investors’ appetite for cloud offerings appears to remain robust. Ex- Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey’s new business, Anduril Industries, is building a virtual wall on the southern border of the US. His new venture is being valued at more than $1 billion in a new fundraising round, according to sources. Anduril describes itself as a company that "Invents and builds technology to secure America and its interests.". Virtual border controls feel like a natural evolution of physical barriers for a digital era. The Tokyo Game Show, Japan’s video gaming mega-conference, opened on Thursday with enthusiasts testing how ultra-high-speed 5G mobile data networks will impact the gaming experience ahead of the technology's commercial rollout in Japan in 2020. Game makers, related network developers, and esports promoters cite expect to benefit from nextgeneration wireless networks that are expected to allow players of increasingly popular online games to utilize faster downloads and smoother connections. 5G’s influence is only beginning to rise as coverage is rolled out.

Brevan Howard plans crypto fund, Google discovers 2-YR iPhone security flaws

Alan Howard’s push into crypto is a badly kept secret that appears to be crystallising into reality. In our view, the crypto space has undergone a very interesting transition from rampant retail speculation to, well, rampant retail speculation underpinned by a broad base of institutional interest. Google search volumes have fallen, transaction sizes appear to be escalating and the latest wave of equipment upgrades suggest consumer interest and potential to participate is now very low. Meanwhile, increased macro risk, currency controls and privacy concerns may be fuelling increased interest. We await further signs of whether we are at a turning point or whether this is (another) flash in the pan. Apple’s woes appear to be mounting as the group undergoes a difficult transition from a lifetime of focus on aesthetically pleasing hardware with a highly refined user experience, to a services focus. On one hand, the group’s key product the iPhone (which accounted for most revenues until very recently) is rapidly entering commoditised territory. Consumers have the option of a powerful and near fully-featured £160 generic Android handset or a cutting-edge iPhone for £1,000; for many, the choice is a simple one. The supply chain woes of having massive exposure to China in the context of the US-China trade war is also likely to weigh heavily on short term strategy. On the other hand, the group’s services are consumer focused and face strong competition from the likes of Amazon, Spotify, Microsoft and Netflix. If the thesis was to build the services on a firm foundation of the Apple hardware base, the cracks in security are worrying.

VMware spends $5bn on cloud security, Salesforce provides strong outlook, Amazon acquires Indian supermarket chain

VMware said on Thursday it bought two providers of cloud security and cloud developer services in separate deals valued at about $5 billion, as it expands offerings for corporate clients. VMware bought Pivotal Software Inc in a $2.7 billion deal. Separately, VMware said it would buy software maker Carbon Black Inc for about $2 billion in cash.

Tencent drops after weak guidance, SoftBank makes energy investment, Security software leaks 1m fingerprints

Tencent shares slumped as much as 3.88% on Thursday after the Chinese technology giant missed analyst expectations, despite beating forecast on earnings. Revenue rose 21% year-on-year to 88.82 billion yuan. Profit attributable to shareholders beat analyst forecasts, rising 35% year-on-year to 24.14 billion yuan. The company's gaming division returned to growth, posting revenue of 27.3 billion yuan, up 8% year-on-year, with mobile games performing particularly well.

BA resumes services after IT meltdown, AT&T employees took bribes to install malware, Nike announces AI acquisition

British Airways said its flights were returning to normal after passengers had to endure cancellations, delays and long queues at London airports as the airline suffered its third major computer failure in a little more than two years. More than 60 flights to and from Heathrow and Gatwick were cancelled and more than 100 were delayed, according to the departure boards at the two airports.

Capital One confirms data breach, Qualcomm & Tencent partner for gaming phone, Microsoft acquires software start-up

Capital One announced on Monday that a data breach identified earlier this month exposed personal information of its customers, including social security details and bank account numbers. The Virginia-headquartered bank said in a news release that about 140,000 Social Security numbers of its credit card customers and around 80,000 linked bank account numbers were compromised. In total, Capital One said, "This event affected approximately 100 million individuals in the United States and approximately 6 million in Canada." Qualcomm and Tencent said on Monday they will cooperate on projects that could include making the Chinese company's videogames play better on devices with Qualcomm chips, and create a 5G version of a Tencent-backed gaming phone. Microsoft yesterday announced the acquisition of BlueTalon, a start-up whose software can prevent people from accessing certain high-value data that companies keep. Over time, the acquisition could help Microsoft's campaign to get companies feeling more comfortable with the idea of keeping sensitive data in its Azure public cloud, which competes with Amazon and other companies.

Facebook to use Libra to become utility, Slack not worried about Microsoft, Symantec ends talks with Broadcom

The Senate Banking Committee on Monday released the testimony of David Marcus, the head of Facebook's cryptocurrency projects ahead of his testimony Tuesday. In his prepared remarks, Marcus perfectly outlines the business model behind the social network’s upcoming Libra digital currency and its Calibra digital wallet. Microsoft might be the primary competitor for Slack, but the widespread adoption of Microsoft's software is not a major problem for Stewart Butterfield, co-founder and CEO of the messaging app. Last week, Microsoft said Teams had more daily active users than Slack. Cybersecurity company Symantec Corp has walked away from negotiations to sell itself to chipmaker Broadcom over price disagreements, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Symantec's decision raises new questions over the future of the US antivirus software provider, which is looking for a new CEO and has been struggling to grow its business serving companies.

Australian banks to digitize bank guarantees, US Gov reviewing license requests for Huawei, Broadcom to acquire Symantec

Australia's top three banks said on Thursday they have agreed to partner with IBM and shopping mall owner Scentre Group to test blockchain technology to digitize bank guarantees. The companies are exploring how to move away from paper-based bank guarantees to cut processing time and the risk of fraud, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Westpac Banking Corp and Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a statement. The US government said on Wednesday it was reviewing licence requests from US companies seeking to export products to China's Huawei "Under the highest national security scrutiny" since the company is still blacklisted. In an email to Reuters, the Commerce Department said that as it reviewed applications, it was applying the "Presumption of denial" standard associated with Entity Listed companies, meaning applications are unlikely to be approved. Symantec shares surged more than 20% in extended trading on Tuesday after Bloomberg reported that Broadcom is in advanced talks to acquire the security software vendor. The deal is reported to be worth more than $16bn, implying an EV/Sales multiple of 3.40x (Bloomberg). Agreement on a deal was close but could be delayed until after the July 4 holiday, according to people briefed on the move.

Arden Tech SoundBytes - US officials told to treat Huawei as blacklisted, Cyber-Incident Reports in the UK Spiked by 1,000% In 2018