Business and technology quick bites: 17.05.2021

Updated version at 8.10 am

The highlighted words in red are links to the news article.

May 17, 2021,

Business News

1. Oil edges higher at the open after a third weekly increase as a demand recovery in key regions raised optimism about rising fuel consumption, despite a Covid-19 flare-up in parts of Asia.
2. Bitcoin dives to below US$45,000 after Musk’s tweet suggesting that Tesla has already or intends to unload its $1.5B in bitcoin holdings.
3. Ecommerce giant JD.com Inc., delivery arm JD Logistics Inc., seeks to raise up to $3.4 billion in its Hong Kong initial public offering, seizing on China’s online shopping boom sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
4. French Insurer Axa’s subsidiary Asia Assistance has been hit by ransomware attack, affecting operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
5. Philip Morris International faces import ban after ruling from International Trade Commission for infringement of two patents owned by BAT’s Reynolds American unit.
6. AT&T and Discovery are in talks to merge AT&T’s media business with Discovery’s reality-TV dynasty to create a massive new entertainment entity.

Technology News

1. Clubhouse to launch its Android app worldwide in a week, days after launching a beta version of its service on Google-owned mobile operating system for users in the U.S.
2. Ex-Google Ads boss, Sridhar Ramaswamy, is building an ad-free search engine with $77.5 million in funding.
3. Amazon Pay India, the online payment business of ecommerce giant Amazon, receives USD30 million fresh funding from its parent company through a Singapore unit and a Mauritius-based entity as it looks to further expand into the country’s burgeoning online payment space.
4. Baidu remains a top pick for growth-hungry tech investors looking outside of America for growth in this arena.