U.S. consumers prefer shopping online reveals shopping data from Mastercard

As per a report by Mastercard Inc, e-commerce sales saw record highs this shopping season in the United States, with U.S. shoppers preferring online sales to their brick-and-mortar counterpart. For retailers, the holiday shopping season is a crucial period for which can account for up to 40% of annual sales. This year, Thanksgiving, which traditionally…

Roche increase gene therapy footprint with $1.5 billion licensing deal with Sarepta Therapeutics

On Monday, in a statement Roche said, it has entered into a $1.15 billion licensing deal with Sarepta Therapeutics to obtain the right to launch and commercialize Sarepta’s investigational gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) outside the United States. Roche will be making an upfront payment of $750 million in cash and $400 million…

Huawei should be allowed to bid in building Italy’s 5G network infrastructure: Stefano Patuanelli

Following an influential parliamentary committee calling on Rome to block China’s Huawei to build Italy’s 5G telecom infrastructure, the country’s industry minister stated, Huawei should be allowed to bid for Italy’s 5G spectrum. “We have passed legislation that guarantees national security. With the right defenses, the possibility of (Huawei’s) access is not up for debate,”…

French competition authority levies $167M fine on Google

France’s competition watchdog has levied a fine of $167 million on Google citing Google’s non-transparent advertising rules and the fact that it changes them at will. Google is facing a growing number of investigations into its advertisement business practices, on both sides of the Atlantic. The ruling is the first penalty by the French authorities…

Colombia orders Uber to cease ride-hailing services citing violation of competition rules

Following a ruling by a judge that Uber’s ride hailing services in Colombia is in violation of competition rules, Colombia has ordered Uber to cease its ride-hailing operations in the country. The court order came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by COTECH SA against against Uber alleging that the U.S. company had the…

Amazon’s in-house delivery on track to deliver 3.5 packages in 2019

In a development that marks Amazon’s growing in-house delivery business, the world’s largest online retailer stated, it was on track to deliver 3.5 billion customer packages globally this year. Amazon’s growing network of delivery trucks, planes, and vans, is considered as potentially a long-term threat to United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp. FedEx has…

Accenture Plc’s reports net income of $1.36 billion on the strength of its cloud and digital services

Accenture Plc’s first quarter earnings have beaten Wall Street analysts’ estimates, on the back of fast-growing digital and cloud services businesses. The IT consulting firm has shifted its focus to the cloud and offers a wide range of services ranging from managing clients’ social media marketing strategies to helping them move to the cloud. Accenture…

Australia imposes record fine of $86 million on VW for breaching emission standards

On Friday, Australian competition regulator penalized Volkswagen AG $86 million for its alleged false representations about compliance with Australia’s diesel emission standards. The exemplary fine is the highest ever ordered by the court for contraventions of the Australian Consumer Law, said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in a statement. According to the ACCC,…

IBM’s new battery design reduces cobalt requirements, uses minerals from seawater instead

In a significant breakthrough, International Business Machines Corp stated, it has created a battery design that uses materials extracted from seawater and which does not use cobalt, an expensive mineral. IBM stated, it has partnered with the research wing of Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz, and battery manufacturer Sidus, for the commercial development of the new design.…