Company News in Brief

Urgent bid to halt Media24's deal with Novus dismissedThe Competition Appeals Court has dismissed a bid by Witness owner Capital Newspapers as well as Caxton Publishers for an urgent interdict of Media24's sale of three media divisions to printing group Novus.In October, the Competition Commission approved JSE-listed Novus's R43-million acquisition of Media24's distribution business On the Dot, its community newspaper portfolio, as well as football-focused Soccer Laduma and Kick Off.Media24 then proceeded with its restructuring plans, which involved closing the print editions of Beeld, Rapport, City Press, and Daily Sun, and shutting its SNL24 digital hub.Capital and Caxton argued that the competition watchdog failed to consider the closure of the printed newspapers and the sale of On the Dot as part of the same transaction. This, they argued, has broader implications for media competition and freedom of expression.In a judgment handed down on 24 December, the Competition Appeals Court dismissed the application against Media24 with costs, including that of two counsel.It concluded that it was the "dynamic character of the market which has created the impetus for the migration decision and hence the continuing decline of print media requiring distribution."The decision to migrate which does not entail a change of control would not have necessitated a different form of authorisation by the Commission, nor on the evidence can it be suggested that there was a composite transaction that would have necessitated a different form of authorisation by the Commission," it said.On the basis of this finding, there is no reason to traverse the extensive arguments made about freedom of expression in relation to an incorrect approval, the judgement read.-FIN24 Fire at Sasol leaves SA dependent on a single fuel plantA fire that shut Sasol's Natref oil refinery leaves South Africa with only one crude-processing plant running, highlighting a growing reliance on fuel imports.The 4 January blaze at the facility — the nation's only inland crude refinery — has caused concerns over jet-fuel supply to Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport, the continent's biggest.That's prompting shippers to schedule fuel deliveries via pipelines and rail from neighbouring Mozambique to prevent shortages, Airports Company of South Africa said in a post on X.Sasol wouldn't confirm a date for a restart of the plant as assessments are under way, it said on Tuesday. The Fuel Industry Association of South Africa expects the unit will be back online by 21 February.The 108 000-barrel-a-day plant represents 30% of South Africa's normally operating refining capacity that comprises three plants and excludes another three facilities that have been shut in recent years. Accidents have halted some, while others require significant investment to manufacture cleaner products.Besides Natref, only Glencore's Astron Energy oil refinery in Cape Town and Sasol's Secunda plant that makes synthetic fuels from coal and gas are operational.Shutdowns have resulted in a growing reliance on shipments from abroad. The state-owned Central Energy Fund has applied to take over assets at the nation's biggest fuel import terminal. TotalEnergies has also expressed interest in providing supply.Sasol said it will provide an update on Natref operations next week.-FIN24 TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday, The Information reportsTikTok plans to shut off its app for U.S. users on Sunday, when a federal ban on the social media app could come into effect, The Information reported on Tuesday, unless the Supreme Court moves to block it.If TikTok shuts off for all U.S. users, the outcome would be different from that mandated by the law. The law would mandate a ban only on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores while existing users could still continue using the app for some time.Under TikTok's plan, people attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.TikTok also plans to give users the option to download all their data so that they can take a record of their personal information with them, the report said.TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance didn't immediately respond to Reuters' request for comments.President Joe Biden had in April last year signed a law requiring Bytedance to sell its U.S. assets by Jan. 19, 2025 or face a nationwide ban.The companies have sought, at the very least, a delay in implementation of the law, which they say violates the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.TikTok said in a court filing last month that it estimates one-third of the 170 million Americans using its app would stop accessing the platform if the ban lasts a month.-REUTERS Intel to spin off its venture capital armChipmaker Intel Corp said on Tuesday that it will separate its venture capital and investment arm, Intel Capital, into a standalone company, to focus on enhancing efficiency across the business.Intel, which will remain an anchor investor, said the standalone operations are expected to begin in the second half of 2025 and will have a new name. The existing Intel Capital team will move to the new company.Intel Capital's separation is a "win-win scenario as it provides the fund with access to new sources of capital to expand its franchise while allowing both companies to continue benefiting from a productive long-term strategic partnership," said David Zinsner, Intel's interim co-chief executive officer and CFO.Established in 1991, Intel Capital has over $5 billion in assets under management and invests in companies across four areas of the tech ecosystem: silicon, frontier, devices and cloud.Earlier today, identity security startup Orchid Security said it had raised $36 million in an early-stage funding round led by Intel Capital and Team8.-REUTERS Boeing jet deliveries in 2024 drop to lowest since pandemicDeliveries of new Boeing jets bounced back in December after a crippling labor strike that slowed production last fall, but the company's annual deliveries dropped in 2024 to the lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic.The company said on Tuesday that it delivered 348 commercial jets last year, down from 528 the previous year. New orders for jets in 2024 dropped to less than half as many as Boeing recorded one year earlier.The company also recorded 569 gross orders and 377 net orders after cancellations and conversions.Production quality issues, stricter regulatory scrutiny, supply chain delays and a seven-week strike slowed the U.S. planemaker's assembly lines. The company has taken a cautious approach to resuming production in the wake of the strike, which ended Nov. 5. Its 737 lines restarted in early December, as Reuters first reported.It ended the year with 6,245 unfilled orders and 5,595 orders in its official backlog, which is adjusted for accounting standards.The company was outpaced by its European rival, Airbus, which delivered 766 jets in 2024 and booked 826 net orders after cancellations and conversions. It was the sixth year in a row that Boeing has trailed Airbus.-REUTERS OpenAI rolls out assistant-like feature 'Tasks' to take on Alexa, SiriGenerative artificial intelligence bellwether OpenAI said on Tuesday that it is introducing a beta feature called Tasks to ChatGPT, signaling the company's foray into the virtual assistant space, competing with Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa.Tasks will enable ChatGPT users to request tasks to be performed at a future time, including one-time reminders such as concert ticket sales or recurring actions like weekly news briefings or daily weather updates.Based on user chats, ChatGPT may also suggest tasks, although users will have the option to accept or decline them.The release of ChatGPT in late 2022 sparked a frenzy of investment in AI firms, prompting Amazon to update its decade-old, money-losing Alexa service with GenAI capabilities to remain competitive with GenAI-powered chatbots.In December last year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the revamped version of Alexa—which will take actions for users without prompting—is slated to be released in the "coming months".Meanwhile, Apple has integrated its "Apple Intelligence" technology into Siri, leveraging ChatGPT's expertise and seeking permission from users before querying the OpenAI service as part of Apple's tie-up with the Microsoft-backed startup.OpenAI said that it will start rolling out the beta to Plus, Team, and Pro users globally over the next few days, beginning with the web platform.-REUTERS

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Allgemeine Zeitung 2025-01-16

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Allgemeine Zeitung 2025-01-16

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